Integral Feminist Pedagogy
Uniting the Contemplative & the Activist
By Alka Arora
What role does spirituality play in transformative, social-justice oriented education? How can contemplative and embodied practices enrich students’ capacity to think beyond the “status quo stories” that support inequality and disconnection? How can educators and students unite heart and mind to engage with the world more creatively, critically, and compassionately?
This essay seeks to answer these questions via a model of education that I call integral feminist pedagogy, which synthesizes the insights of the integral and feminist traditions in education. Integral thinking challenges the Western dualism of mind and spirit; it affirms that education can and should foster the psychospiritual development of students alongside their intellectual growth. The feminist tradition, meanwhile, asserts that “no education is politically neutral” and encourages an educational praxis that supports social justice and equity. By integrating the wisdom of both traditions, we can decolonize not only our minds but also our bodies and spirits such that we experience the inseparability of political and spiritual freedom.
A Personal Teaching Story
It’s 1999 and I have my first experience as a graduate teaching assistant. The course is titled “Women and Violence” and my students are in despair. The professor has done an excellent job of providing an intersectional analysis of how violence is not only gendered, but also racialized and steeped in histories of colonization. Students are developing powerful new vocabularies to give voice to their own experiences of violence, as well as the experiences of other women around the globe. However, their grief, rage, and anxiety about the level of violence in our world is not allayed. They want to make meaning out of the suffering they have experienced or witnessed, and their questions often take an existential turn. As a 23-year-old graduate student, I, too, am encountering some of these realities about violence for the first time, and truth be told, I am also in despair. There seems to be a great deal of effort in the class to move us toward theorizing our experiences - but very little space to process our inner worlds.
To deal with my own feelings, I turn to a Western Buddhist meditation center and to therapy. In both venues, I find space to explore my own existential questions, and I deepen my connection to my spirituality. Discussions of patriarchy, colonialism, and racism are absent from my newly found healing spaces, however, and something feels amiss. Years later, I notice the same thing in talking to a cross-section of students at CIIS in programs focused on psychology, consciousness, or religion. Students are receiving a holistic education that encourages them to bring their bodies and spirits into the class, but their gendered, racialized, and other identities are too often ignored in favor of abstract understandings of what constitutes “human experience.” Many students feel this gap acutely, particularly students of color, and tensions often surface on campus among discourses of psychospiritual transformation and discourses of social justice.
I developed integral feminist pedagogy as an antidote to some of these and other challenges I have experienced as an educator. Over time, it has become increasingly clear to me that we need ways to bridge the schism between intellectual, social-justice oriented education and holistic, contemplative teaching. Integral feminist pedagogy provides a way to honor the uniqueness of each individual’s psycho-spiritual journey as well as their complex, intersectional, and evolving social and political identity. Below, I share some context on the traditions of integral pedagogy and feminist pedagogy and then offer some principles and practices of integration.
What is Integral Pedagogy?
The tradition of integral pedagogy that I draw from is rooted in the work of Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo (Aurobindo Ghose, 1872-1950) and spiritual leader Mirra Alfassa (1878-1973), widely known as “The Mother.” Aurobindo and the Mother collaborated in challenging the conventional wisdom of both Indian and Western philosophy. They rejected Indic spiritual teachings that saw the material world as mere illusion that must be transcended. They also repudiated Western Cartesian dualisms of mind and body, matter and spirit. Instead, they advocated for an integral view of human life in which psychologically and spiritually mature persons could transform this world rather than seeking to escape it.
Aurobindo and the Mother asserted that education must go beyond exposing students to knowledge about the material world to encompass the development of “whole-person wisdom” including physical capacities, intellectual discernment, imagination, emotional awareness, and spiritual development. Educators’ role was not to view students as pliable clay that they could mold, but rather to enable students’ own capacities for discernment and self-actualization. Moreover, the developers of integral theory stressed that students should be supported in cultivating their svadharma, or the “personal and unique contribution that is inherent in each individual.”
Aurobindo and the Mother’s theory of integralism was elaborated upon and applied by their student Haridas Chaudhuri (1913-1975), who brought integral education to the West and founded the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, CA, where I teach today. Chaudhuri’s assertion that education should address the “total human situation” has been taken up by faculty and students at CIIS for over forty years.
With time and advances in knowledge, principles of integral education have evolved. For instance, the early integral emphasis on rigorous physical discipline has shifted to an emphasis on gentle somatic practices that enable students to tap into embodied wisdom. Insights from Asian spirituality have been complemented by Western esoteric teachings, and, more recently, with the immense wisdom of Indigenous, Africana, and Latin American cultures. The challenge of integral thinking has been taken up by scholars and artists from diverse disciplines, who have developed a wide array of methods for teaching “the whole person.”
Despite this diversity, I believe that there are some core tenets of integral pedagogy. Integral educators seek to:
Create spaces where the numinous dimension of existence can be explored without advocating for any particular religious, spiritual, or philosophical dogma.
Engage students’ inner lives in a way that supports their psychological and spiritual drive toward wholeness.
Embrace multiplicity, complexity, and paradox while encouraging students to do the same.
Foster hope in the possibility of both individual and social transformation.
Provide tools for students to explore deeper questions about the meaning and purpose of their lives.
What is Feminist Pedagogy?
Like integral pedagogy, feminist education is rooted in a vision of transformation. However, feminism has historically been focused primarily on sociopolitical, rather than individual, change. Inspired by the women’s liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s, feminist pedagogy emerged as a response to the overwhelming androcentrism (male-centeredness) of higher education. As women entered universities in increasing numbers, the discrepancy between their own interests and experiences and the content of course curricula became increasingly stark. Outside of the ivory tower, groups of women came together in “consciousness raising” groups to share lived experiences and identify patterns of marginalization and oppression. A distinctive style of education developed from these varied sites, one that valued lived experience as a source of knowledge, emphasized dialogue among teachers and learners, and viewed education as a means of resistance to oppressive worldviews.
One of the defining features of feminist pedagogy has been the insistence that intimate aspects of our lives have political dimensions. As feminist teacher Berenice Malka Fisher notes:
Topics that had been considered strictly ‘personal,’ such as how a woman felt about her body, how sexual violence or sexual pleasure affected her, the consequences of marrying and having children, what it meant to become educated, how to deal with problems at work, at home or outside it, all become the focus of intense discussions [in consciousness raising groups, and later in feminist classrooms].
By collectively reflecting on shared lived experiences, feminist thinkers developed theories and practices for understanding and responding to institutionalized sexism, misogyny, and male privilege.
In addition, feminist educators have been influenced by critical pedagogy, based in the work of Paolo Freire (1921-1997), which challenges mainstream education for its role in reproducing class-based domination. Critical race theories, ethnic studies, and queer studies have also intertwined with feminist education over the years in productive ways. As issues of race, class, and sexuality came more to the fore in feminist classrooms, women students could no longer see themselves as simply targets of patriarchal oppression. White, middle-class, heterosexual, and able-bodied students had to reckon with their experiences of both oppression and privilege. The feminist educators’ job has become one not only of empowering marginalized students but also of challenging them to recognize and unlearn habits of privilege, dominance, and entitlement.
Like integral education, feminist pedagogy encompasses many different philosophies and teaching strategies. Nonetheless, there are key ideas that unite feminist educators, who:
Believe that education can and should inspire social and political changes that engender equity and liberation of oppressed groups.
Engage students in historically situated analyses of power and privilege.
Embrace narratives of personal experiences as sources of knowledge and solidarity.
Support students in unlearning internalized oppression and internalized privilege.
Feminism Meets Integral Theory
Both feminist and integral educators hold expansive visions for education. They recognize the potential of classrooms to foster deep-seated transformation that ripples into the wider society. However, I believe that both the integral and feminist traditions have a gap in their vision that can be remedied by the other. Integral educators have too often focused on individual development and transformation, neglecting the realities of social and political systems. On the other hand, feminist teachers have often undervalued the interior and spiritual dimensions of life. Integral and feminist ways of approaching the classroom can complement each other to form a more holistic paradigm.
Before I discuss the limits of integral pedagogy, I must note that the philosophy developed by Aurobindo and the Mother was not apolitical. Aurobindo was active in the Indian movement to end British colonization, and was even imprisoned for his activism. Integral theory challenged other Indic philosophies which focused solely on liberation into transcendental realms. Instead, Aurobindo and the Mother believed that spiritually evolved individuals could work to create a more harmonious world rather than seek to escape from a dysfunctional one.
However, as integral philosophy came to the West, it was denuded of its political edge and the primary focus of integral education became individual growth. With the exception of Haridas Chaudhuri, who brought integral philosophy to the U.S. from India, students and teachers who disseminated this philosophy were generally class-privileged white Americans, mostly male. While keenly attuned to intrapsychic realities and spiritual wisdom, they lacked an analysis of the systemic problems, such as sexism and racism, that influence who has the time, space, and opportunity to delve into integral theory or personal healing work.
The wisdom from feminist pedagogy can provide a corrective to the blind spots of modern integral education. Our inner landscapes are not formed in a vacuum; social forces such as racism, sexism, and homophobia influence our interior experiences and our spiritual perspectives. Incorporating a feminist lens brings integral education closer in alignment to Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s vision of social healing while also bringing in contemporary, nuanced intersectional understandings of power and privilege that were not present in their time.
Feminist education’s limitation, on the other hand, has been its neglect of students’ psycho-spiritual realities. While politicizing personal experiences such as gender-based violence or reproductive trauma, feminist educators have tended to seek political remedies while neglecting the emotional impact of learning about such trauma (as in my own experience), or negating the spiritual questions, hopes, and dreams of students. While recognizing that the personal is political, many feminist educators – particularly in higher education – have often forgotten that the political is also personal.
Fortunately, the tides have been turning. In recent years, there has been growing interest in infusing mindfulness and other holistic practices into feminist education. Becky Thomson’s Teaching with Tenderness, Beth Berila’s Integrating Mindfulness into Anti-Oppression Pedagogy, and Olivia Perlow et al.’s Black Women’s Liberatory Pedagogies are exemplars of this shift. The integral feminist pedagogical framework offered here contributes to the growing discourse on how the personal, spiritual, and political intersect. Below, I detail several key tenets of integral feminist pedagogy, as well as concrete ideas that educators can use to apply these principles in their classrooms.
Tenets of Integral Feminist Pedagogy
Both educators and learners are multidimensional beings, who must be engaged as both spiritual and political agents.
Feminist pedagogy emphasizes how we are all shaped by the particular historical and socio-political conditions in which we live. An integral feminist lens adds to this an awareness of how we are also formed by our metaphysical worldviews – whether we belong to a specific religious tradition, have an eclectic spirituality, are a committed atheist, or identify as agnostic. Our political and metaphysical worldviews interact in complex ways. For instance, a Hindu might attribute their class privilege to good karma, while a Christian facing sexism might believe that patiently accepting her lot will lead to heavenly rewards. A “spiritual but not religious” student might believe that there is a deeper meaning to the suffering wrought by oppression while an atheist might see it all as senseless pain inflicted by humans upon each other.
There is great power in bringing to light these implicit assumptions about the interrelationship between the spiritual and political realms. In my course on ecofeminism and animal ethics, for instance, I ask students to reflect on how their religious upbringing (or lack of one) has informed their ideas about the ethical responsibilities that humans have to the animal world. Simply asking the question can reveal assumptions and connections that students had not previously made. With this awareness, students can consciously decide whether or not their prior, implicit beliefs are still resonant. Importantly, the job of the integral feminist educator is not to impose a particular religious, spiritual, or materialist worldview on students, but to help students become more aware of the ways that their existing worldviews shape their ideas and behaviors.
Ideas for educators
Pose questions that bring to light the implicit connections that students may have between religion/spirituality and issues of social justice. Questions might include: “How does your worldview (e.g. spiritual, religious, atheist, etc) inform your ideas about gender roles?” and “Do you believe that we are spiritually obligated to challenge inequalities, accept the world as it is, or some other view?”
When teaching about power, privilege, and social justice, include a discussion of the religious and spiritual histories of activist movements. For instance, the U.S. Civil Rights Movement was heavily influenced by the Black churches, the women’s spirituality movement linked Goddess worship and feminist activism, and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa had deep spiritual roots.
If your teaching includes contemplative practices, consider that many of the contemplative traditions have been embedded within male-dominated, elitist, and casteist cultures. Rather than jettisoning the wisdom from these traditions, seek out and highlight the women and other marginalized teachers in your curriculum. As Elizabeth Lesser argues, “We can dream up and circulate new lists to augment the classics; new names to replenish the ones we overquote, overlionize, overcelebrate.” For example, if discussing Buddhism, bring up B. R. Ambedkar’s use of Buddhism to liberate India’s oppressed castes or highlight writings by female teachers.
Social justice education is more effective when it addresses students’ inner worlds.
Integral philosophy is based on the premise that “there is a mode of consciousness available to us that is qualitatively different from our common, ordinary, rational, everyday consciousness.” This mode can be more readily accessed through activities such as meditation, art, ritual, and time in nature. By fostering spaces where students can access their interior realms, educators can help them integrate the myriad aspects of their identities, deepen their empathy for others, and dream up novel solutions to social problems.
As the classroom engages with such interiority, students and teachers must also confront the range of emotions that arise in response to learning about issues of domination and oppression: grief, anger, shame, despair, and guilt are not uncommon. Those who have experienced firsthand the harms of oppression may also feel validated and empowered by learning more about their group’s histories and struggles. Both privileged and marginalized students may struggle to make meaning out of such suffering, or wonder if involvement in social change is part of their life’s purpose. Integral feminist educators consciously make space in the classroom for discussions where students can reflect on and process their responses to difficult material.
The emerging literature on trauma-informed teaching supports the idea that we must “acknowledge, normalize, and discuss” our emotional responses to classroom material that includes oppression and other forms of trauma. Leading thinkers in trauma-informed pedagogy caution us, however, not to probe for students’ trauma narratives via assignments that require excessive self-disclosure; doing so risks re-traumatizing students. Rather, educators can use strategies such as teaching self-care and leading mindful dialogues to address the emotions that arise organically when working with course content. An integral feminist educator seeks a middle ground that avoids suppressing emotion via over-intellectualization and digging for pain by forcing personal revelations.
Ideas for Educators
Incorporate activities that help students access interior modes of being, such as a visualization on what a world without racism might look like, an art project that addresses the complexities of gender identity, or a nature walk during which students contemplate their ethical and political relationship with the nonhuman world.
Assign a journaling activity wherein students reflect on if and how addressing a social justice issue is part of their life purpose. Remind them that there are many different ways to contribute to social change – from policy-making to education to art - and that each individual has their own unique path to walk.
Build in class time for reflective dialogues on course material, wherein students can openly share – if they choose - the thoughts and emotions that arise when learning about domination and injustice. Honor boundaries and do not force more self-disclosure than students are ready for.
Encourage students to engage in self-care activities outside the classroom to further integrate their experiences inside it. Such activities might include mindful movement, therapy, journaling, or community-based activities specific to a student’s cultural identity.
Psychospiritual maturity requires one to awaken to issues of oppression and injustice.
When issues of systemic oppression are raised in the classroom, a common response, particularly among more privileged students, is to argue that discussing race, gender, or other identities is unnecessary once we realize the essential spiritual oneness of humanity. This response represents a type of “spiritual bypassing,” or strategy to avoid dealing with the messy realities of human life via appeal to transcendent spiritual ideals. The concept of spiritual bypassing was originally developed to address psychological rather than political issues; it challenged seekers’ tendency to use spirituality to escape “painful feelings, unresolved wounds, and developmental needs” in their personal lives. However, I argue that the concept of spiritual bypassing can and should expand to address socio-political suffering, for our “painful feelings and unresolved wounds” are inextricable from our experiences within deeply unjust and hierarchical social systems.
Someone using the strategy of spiritual bypassing might suppress their own pain at being a target of oppression. Those in privileged positions, on the other hand, bypass by seeing themselves as “post-racial” or otherwise beyond human social divisions. They might also view those who do bring up issues such as race or gender as less spiritually evolved. Given that many of us hold identities that include privilege and oppression, these various strategies of bypassing often co-exist in the same person.
The task of the integral feminist educator, then, becomes one of naming and challenging the tendency to spiritually bypass when it arises among students – or within themselves.
The teacher points out that recognizing and transforming oppression in mature and grounded ways is part of the spiritual journey, not a distraction from the spiritual path. As Shelley Tochluk asserts, “A good test of one’s current state of transcendence, particularly for white people, may be by facing personal and systemic racism, while staying authentically open, present, and unreactive.” The same can be said for cisgender men confronting sexism, heterosexuals addressing homophobia, etc.
Ideas for Educators
Explicitly discuss the concept of spiritual bypassing and how it relates to social injustice. Model vulnerability and reflexivity by sharing examples from times in your life that you have engaged in spiritual bypassing.
Assign readings which explore the dialogue between spiritual development and sociopolitical awareness. Examples include Zenju Earthlyn Manuel’s The Way of Tenderness: Awakening through Race, Sexuality, and Gender and Shelley Tochluk’s Living in the Tension: The Quest for a Spiritualized Racial Justice.
Discuss how compassionately responding to social injustice can be a sign of spiritual growth, not a detraction from it. Share stories of activist leaders who exemplify spiritual maturity and groundedness.
Liberatory education honors our relationship with the non-human world.
“When we are born into this world, our umbilical connection is transferred from our birth mother to the Earth mother,” writes Sherri Mitchell, an Indigenous (Penobscot) scholar and activist. Thus, the fourth tenet of integral feminist education addresses the ecological dimensions of our existence. We are deeply dependent upon the natural world for our well-being; we have ethical obligations to animals, trees, the waters, and the earth. Human patterns of domination and exploitation have not just affected other humans, but all of life. The escalating climate crisis, along with ongoing rampant animal abuse and environmental destruction, necessitates that any form of liberatory education include an ecological component.
To date, most of the literature on both integral philosophy and feminist pedagogy has been anthropocentric. Aurobindo and the Mother addressed the “physical, vital, spiritual, psychic, and mental” aspects of individuals; the ecological aspect was not explicitly mentioned. Yet, they held a “wider view of Earth and humanity as evolving expressions of Spirit.” Further, their focus on evolving rather than transcending our material existence suggests that ecological consciousness is consistent with integral philosophy.
Feminist educators, meanwhile, have focused primarily on human social relations. However, the emerging discourse of ecofeminist pedagogy considers how teachers can raise students’ awareness of the interconnection between human and ecological well-being. Integral feminist pedagogy builds upon the insights of ecofeminism while also honoring the wisdom from ecowomanist and Indigenous philosophies. Together, these traditions assert that transformative education must challenge the ongoing colonization of land and peoples while centering our ethical responsibilities to all forms of life.
Ideas for educators
Discuss issues of colonization and environmental injustices in your classroom, emphasizing how the human and more-than-human world are intimately connected.
Encourage students to spend time off-screen during which they consciously engage with a nonhuman animal or an aspect of the natural world. Ask them to reflect on how such engagement affects them psychologically and/or spiritually.
Develop experiential assignments in which students practice shifting behaviors that have ecological impacts. For instance, students might choose to learn more about their local bioregion, give up animal foods, or vastly reduce their consumption of plastic.
Conclusion
I developed integral feminist pedagogy as a way of bringing together the contemplative and the activist in the classroom – and within myself. While I use the language of “educators” and “students” in this essay, the reality is that we are always both. Those of us with formal teaching roles need to be willing to be students as we expand our awareness of how the political, spiritual, psychological, and ecological interact. And those of us who are students – whether in school or in life - have much wisdom to offer both our peers and teachers based on our own, complex lived experiences. My hope is that the tenets and ideas shared here will inspire all to more deeply consider how we can bring together all aspects of ourselves – mind and body, heart and soul – as we work toward both healing and justice, inwardly and outwardly.
