Book Review of "Integrating Mindfulness into Anti-Oppression Pedagogy: Social Justice in Higher Education"

Berila, B. (2016). Integrating mindfulness into anti-oppression pedagogy: Social justice in higher education. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Frances Group. Pages: 181. Price: 45.99 USD. (paper).Beth Berila thoughtfully illuminates the intersection between the practice of mindfulness and social justice education in her book, Integrating Mindfulness into Anti-Oppression Pedagogy. The subtitle of her book, Social Justice in Higher Education, highlights the intended audience for her writing. Berila expresses the purpose in writing her book as "my desire to help us interrupt oppression at its roots in our bodies, our hearts, and our minds" (p. x). In speaking to the manner in which mindfulness practices can broaden student perspectives in courses that deal with diversity, she reveals the complex ways in which student experiences shape learning and understanding.Demystifying the status quo of power relations and uncovering the ways in which these relationships work to sustain oppression is the basis for anti-oppression pedagogy. Contemplative practices encourage an embodied self-awareness and understanding. In merging the two, Berila proposes a mindful anti-oppression pedagogy that promotes an embodied social justice understanding. As an instructor who has taught courses with social justice themes, I am always interested in the experiences of my students and the responses they have to course material, but I had not considered how these experiences might be deeply held in their bodies. Berila encourages all instructors engaged in social justice education to attend to the ways in which classroom learning experiences impact students in a physical sense. Her book addresses these themes by critically framing mindful anti-oppression pedagogy and suggesting possible learning experiences for instructors of social justice education.Each chapter begins with a thorough analysis and discussion on how mindfulness can be linked to and complement anti-oppression pedagogy. These sections are carefully structured and offer a theoretical framework for thinking about mindfulness practices in social justice education. This theoretical grounding pulls the reader into Berila's central argument: that an integration of mindfulness practices with anti-oppression pedagogy will lead to a deeper understanding of social justice issues and self reflection. Social justice education is a process. The intersectionality of identity, power, privilege and oppression reminds us that structural forces underpin inequities in our society. But social justice work has to also happen "at the level of the individual, as we unlearn prejudicial ideologies and oppressive ways of being" (p.173). Berila describes the ways in which diversity and difference are embodied by students in their experiences, values, beliefs, and identities within communities. Untangling students' behaviours and beliefs at their core is the purpose for her compassionate use of mindfulness practices in her classroom.In Chapter 1, Berila presents an anti-oppression pedagogy framework and introduces us to the idea of mindfulness and its usefulness for engaging students. This chapter allows readers to situate themselves in the context of social justice education. Critical reflection is usually a part of social justice courses, but mindfulness allows for a focus on not only what students are thinking, but on what they are feeling.Contemplative practices enable students to cultivate emotional intelligence, l e a r n to sit with difficult emotions, recognize deeply entrenched narratives they use to interpret the world, cultivate compassion for other people, and become more intentional about how they respond in any given moment. (p. 15)We are invited to move beyond a teaching style that engages only the cognitive abilities of our students, to incorporating practices that allow them to consider issues more deeply and from multiple perspectives. The ideas introduced in this chapter are developed and explored as themes in the chapters that follow. …