Description
Book SynopsisWritten by Elizabeth Tisdell, co-author of "Women as Learners" (ISBN: 0787909203), this book considers the connection between spirituality and culture and how it relates to developing culturally relevant approaches to adult and higher education.
Trade Review"This should prove to be a groundbreaking volume. Every adult educator will benefit from engaging in the conversation." (
PAACE Journal of Lifelong Learning, Summer 2004)
"...this book makes an important contribution to a new and growing body of knowledge." (Journal of College Student Development, December 2003)
"A Professor of Adult Education describes How Spirituality Can Be a Valuable Teaching Tool" (By Dana Sobyra in The Chronicle of Higher Education)
"The work is an easy read, not overly laden with references but enough to give it authority." (TCRecord.org, 10/8/03)
Table of ContentsPreface
Part I: Breaking the Silence: Spirituality and Culture in Adult Meaning-Making and Education 1
1. Introduction: Culture, Spirituality, and Adult Learning 3
2. Breaking the Silence: Defining Spirituality in a Culturally Relevant Educational Context 25
3. Spirituality, Religion, and Culture in Lived Experience: Overlaps and Separations 45
4. Between the Cultural and the Universal: Themes and Variations of Spiritual Experience 67
Part II: Claiming a Sacred Face: Identity and Spiritual Development 89
5. The Great Spiral: Spiritual Development as a Process of Moving Forward and Spiraling Back 93
6. Gender, Culture, and Spiritual Identity in Midlife Integration 117
7. The Role of Spiritual Experience in Developing a Positive Cultural Identity 139
8. Searching for Wholeness: Crossing Culture, White Identity, and Spiritual Development 163
Part III: Spirituality in a Culturally Relevant and Transformative Teaching Practice 183
9. Approaching Transformative Teaching Grounded in Spirituality and Cultural Relevance 187
10. A Theory-in-Progress of a Spiritually Grounded, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Philosophical Underpinnings and New Directions 203
11. Stories from the Field: Spirituality and Culture in Adult Higher Education Classrooms 219
12. The Possibilities and Challenges of Spiritually Grounded, Culturally Relevant Teaching 235
Epilogue: Final Reflections 259
Appendix: Research Methodology 263
References 271
Index 285
