Moving past postcolonial hybrid spaces: How Buddhist monks make meaning of biology

Abstract

AbstractIn formal learning spaces, students must navigate making meaning of both new knowledge and potentially new worldviews. In this qualitative grounded theory study, we examined how adult Buddhist monastic students learned about and described the origin of biodiversity in an introductory biology course. The study was conducted at a Tibetan settlement in south India during an 8‐day class that was offered as part of joint program between an American university and the Tibetan Buddhist monastic community. Informed by hybridity theory, we describe four findings regarding how the monks made meaning (i.e., deciding what to learn, framing what to learn, why they should learn, and how they could learn). The monks (1) integrated the new knowledge about physical diversity into their worldview of “mental diversity;” (2) found similarities between their worldview and academic science; (3) were both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to learn about biology; and (4) valued opportunities to engage in dialectical discourse to assist in meaning making. We conclude that the monks navigated different epistemologies demonstrating secured collateral learning. We encourage researchers to consider using a decolonized perspective when conducting studies of learning in hybrid or third spaces.