ABSTRACT

Geographers have long advocated for decolonizing geographic research and curriculum to produce forms of anti-oppressive knowledge and learning. While these calls have become more prominent in recent years, these conversations are rarely translated into a reflection on pedagogy and how we integrate anti-oppressive teaching in the classroom. This paper argues that introducing contemplative pedagogy into our classrooms presents one step toward teaching and producing anti-oppressive geographic knowledge. Anti-oppressive teaching and learning requires challenging oppressive forms of knowledge and asks that students and instructors develop self-reflexivity, reflect on their privilege, and learn to see the world through the experiences of others. Contemplative pedagogy helps both students and instructors engage more deeply with these challenging tasks by equipping students to reflect on their own experiences and positionalities and integrate contradictory and challenging viewpoints. I argue that by incorporating contemplative pedagogy and mindfulness into geography classrooms, both instructors and students will have a set of tools with which to transform the learning experience and provide students with the skills to productively engage in these difficult, but necessary, conversations around issues of privilege, colonialism, injustice, racism, and inequality.

摘要

长期以来，地理学家一直主张对地理研究和课程进行非殖民化，以产生反压迫的知识和学习形式。尽管近年来这些呼吁变得更加突出，但这些对话很少转化为对教学法以及我们如何将反压迫教学融入课堂的反思。本文认为，将沉思教学法引入我们的课堂是朝着教授和生产反压迫地理知识迈出的一步。反压迫的教学和学习需要具有挑战性的压迫形式的知识，并要求学生和教师发展自我反思，反思他们的特权，并学会通过他人的经历来看待世界。沉思教学法帮助学生和教师更深入地参与这些具有挑战性的任务，使学生能够反思自己的经历和立场，并整合矛盾和具有挑战性的观点。我认为，通过将沉思教学法和正念融入地理课堂，教师和学生都将拥有一套工具来改变学习体验，并为学生提供有效参与这些困难但必要的围绕以下问题的对话的技能特权、殖民主义、不公正、种族主义和不平等。