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Community-Engaged Mindfulness and Social Justice: An Inquiry and Call to Action
Handbook of Mindfulness
Short Title: Community-Engaged Mindfulness and Social Justice
Format: Book Chapter
Publication Date: Nov 30, 2015
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Place of Publication: Cham
Pages: 425 - 439
Sources ID: 68481
Visibility: Public (group default)
Abstract: (Show)
This chapter presents an argument for mindfulness and secular Buddhism as inherently suffused with what might be called social justice concerns and thus calls for mindfulness teaching which includes practices and teachings that make explicit the links between mindfulness and social justice. Drawing on my experience within the fields of mindfulness teaching, law teaching, and contemplative pedagogy, in the first part of this chapter, I discuss how the practices we call mindfulness tend to cultivate a felt sense not only of interconnectedness and compassion but also of solidarity—unity of agreement in feeling or action (especially among individuals with a common purpose)—among practitioners, that assist us in working together for a more just world. I support these claims by reference to an exploratory case study: an offering of community-engaged mindfulness to address a community facing revelations of racism among law enforcement in a major American city.