Maria Vamvalis

Centering ‘Contemplative Criticality’ in Citizenship Education

Rarely are the voices of critical educators, particularly educators whose positionality in terms of race, gender, social class, dis/ability and sexuality are often marginalized, found in the field of ‘educational leadership’ discourses seeking to construct educational frameworks and programs designed to ‘prepare’ students for the emerging future, let alone reimagine these futures. Even more rare is to hear the voices of critical educators with marginalized identities who support contemplative practices within education. How would critical educators who support contemplative educational practices such as mindfulness envision the utopic space in education capable of pointing us in more life-affirming directions in challenging times? What might these voices have to offer the conversations to enhance conceptions of global citizenship education oriented towards nurturing preferred futures, particularly if their perspective, experiences, hopes, imaginative possibilities, critiques and desires were centered in the discourse? Maria will be presenting the findings of a mini research study that engages these questions.