Week 9 - Shannon Trinh

I really like the idea of connectedness and its importance to spirituality: “connection conceived in indigenous spirituality, as vital and inherent to its being: a connection to all aspects of the self, connection to one’s community, connection to history, and connection to a higher power or larger framework” (151). What was really refreshing about this reading was the variety of connections we can make in this world – that we do not necessarily only have to be connected to objects or people that we can physically see or contact. If we make the effort, we can feel connection with the people who were here before us (ancestors and past communities who roamed the earth): “This connection speaks to how the present cannot be theorized without another dimension; it is never as simple as what you can see. Spirituality is not only mutually inter-dependent with events in the present but also with history as symbolized by the lived experiences of the elders and ancestors” (251). With this being said, I wonder about the psychological effects of various types of connections. What if those who were more connected to their ancestors and present communities/environments found more fulfillment, clarity, and happiness in their lives compared to those who only found connections only with beings in the present?

This quote was also extremely important: “everything we do is either in compliance or resistance to dominant discourses, and consequently, how we perceive spirituality is an important form of resistance…In choosing an indigenous spirituality of connectedness, we are creating space for multiple ways of knowing, for a renewed understanding of the common relationships that we share, and opportunities to interrogate why we see the world as we do” (281). How are we supposed to understand one another if we don’t spend time in spaces that provide opportunities for dialogue and shared experiences? Psychology studies have shown that shared experiences enhance positivity and a sense of community. Those who share experiences, good or bad, feel more strongly and more passionately about the topics and experiences at hand. Additionally, actually talking to others is completely different from reading about forms of spirituality in a textbook.

Question: What are the academic and psychological effects of allowing students to share their lived experiences in the classrooms? Are they positive or negative? Both?

Works Cited:

Eric Ritskes. “Connected: Indigenous Spirituality as Resistance in the Classroom.”