Week 8 - Zoua Nikki Thao
This week's theme, "Spirit Realm in Academia: A Movement for Spiritual Liberation," reminded me of why this course, ASA 189B is being offered and why it's so revolutionary for such a course to exist in a top public university. There were many readings for this week, but I was able to connect all of them to this week's theme quite easily. Riyad Ahmed Shahjahan's piece, "Spirituality in the Academy: Reclaiming from the Margins and Evoking a Transformative Way of Knowing the World," explores the oppression of spirituality in academia. While France Wyld and Bronwyn Fredericks' article, "Earth Song as Storywork: Reclaiming Indigenous Knowledges," looks at how connecting with the earth and singing the "earth's songs" can restore information about the world we know, which has become lost over time. The tarot cards, "The Model Minority" and "The Shopkeeper" were pretty similar, and in my opinion, touched up on how the pressure to succeed within Asian American communities oftentimes creates a disconnect between one's well-being and "success".
Kai Cheng Thom's, "The Myth of Mental Health," is an experience that brings all of these assigned readings together. Thom's story of a failed suicide attempt and his Asian American's family response to it, shows how the oppression of spirituality in academia and the model minority myth can come together to create hostile environments. Thom's father emphasized taking the SATs just a day after his suicide attempt, showing how the emphasis on educational success in highly prevalent in Asian American communities. I begin to wonder how different things could have been for Thom had his school integrated spirituality, rather than add to the increased stress on "normal" academics like his father. Could Thom's suicide potentially been avoided if he had a healthy environment to get in tune with his spirituality and mental illness? What does it look like for academia to integrate spirituality into its curriculum? Would it look like our ASA 189B course?
Works Cited:
Kai Cheng Thom's, "The Myth of Mental Health," is an experience that brings all of these assigned readings together. Thom's story of a failed suicide attempt and his Asian American's family response to it, shows how the oppression of spirituality in academia and the model minority myth can come together to create hostile environments. Thom's father emphasized taking the SATs just a day after his suicide attempt, showing how the emphasis on educational success in highly prevalent in Asian American communities. I begin to wonder how different things could have been for Thom had his school integrated spirituality, rather than add to the increased stress on "normal" academics like his father. Could Thom's suicide potentially been avoided if he had a healthy environment to get in tune with his spirituality and mental illness? What does it look like for academia to integrate spirituality into its curriculum? Would it look like our ASA 189B course?
 |
| Our course relates to this week's theme. |
Works Cited:
Earth Song as Storywork: Reclaiming Indigenous Knowledges by Bronwyn Fredericks
http://www.monicaong.com/news/2017/1/19/open-in-emergency-asian-american-mental-health
Comments
Post a Comment