Disenchanting Secularism (or the Cultivation of Soul) as Pedagogy in Resistance to Populist Racism and Colonial Structures in the Academy

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
Read Online Read More Add to Saved list
  • Author(s): Blencowe, Claire (ORCID Blencowe, Claire (ORCID 0000-0003-2532-4418)
  • Language:
    English
  • Source:
    British Educational Research Journal. Apr 2021 47(2):389-408.
  • Publication Date:
    2021
  • Document Type:
    Journal Articles
    Reports - Evaluative
  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      20
    • Education Level:
      Higher Education
      Postsecondary Education
    • Subject Terms:
      Educational Strategies; Racial Bias; Educational Change; Resistance to Change; Religion; Spiritual Development; Undergraduate Study; Social Theories; Social Systems
    • Accession Number:
      10.1002/berj.3665
    • ISSN:
      0141-1926
    • Abstract:
      This article explores pedagogic strategies for resisting the racism of contemporary populism and age-old coloniality through challenging secularism in the academy, especially in social theory. Secularism sustains racism and imperialism in the contemporary academy and is inscribed, in part, through the norms of social theory. Post-secular social theory has been positioned by some as the decolonial answer, but often replicates the most problematic aspects of secularism. Whereas post-secularism affirms the previously denigrated side of the secular vs religious dualism, I am more interested in unworking those classificatory schemas, setting the critical thought of religious teachers "in relation to" 'secular' social and political theorists such that boundaries erode. The ambition in this is to resist the hierarchical orderings of knowledge that pit Islamic, indigenous, feminised subjectivity as backwards, dangerous or intrinsically inferior to secular, Christian, rational knowledge. It is also to disenchant the secular gods (progress, money, growth, health) and hold open space for critical play in relation to the transcendental--to create a permissive, legitimising, space for students' spiritual dimension, "conocimiento" or the 'cultivation of soul'. The article draws theoretical inspiration from Gloria Anzaldúa, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Sylvia Wynter. It also draws on a practical experiment in disenchanting secularism through teaching an undergraduate module in social theory called Capitalism and Religion.
    • Abstract:
      As Provided
    • Publication Date:
      2021
    • Accession Number:
      EJ1294774