The Role of Spirituality in Culturally Relevant and Transformative Adult Education

Abstract

Spirituality is an important part of human experience. So is culture. Most discussions of spirituality focus on the individual dimension of spirituality. But we believe that there is a cultural dimension to spirituality and a spiritual dimension to culture. By drawing on the connection between the two, adult educators can create educational experiences that are both culturally relevant and transformative. Culture is the common beliefs, values, language, images, symbols, and behaviors shared by a particular social group (Guy, 1999). Nearly all human knowledge and experience, including spiritual experience, will be shared and given expression through culture--in language, in music, in art, or in symbol making. Indeed, people construct knowledge and make meaning in powerful and ways through symbol, music, art, metaphor, and ritual--what faith development theorist James Fowler (1981) refers to as and unconscious structuring (p. 103). These aspects of knowledge production and ways of knowing are at the of the way spiritual knowing is often expressed. But such manifestations of knowing through symbolic and processes are also deeply cultural. Thus, they connect us back to our cultural selves, which is why spirituality can have an important role to play in culturally relevant education that draw on learners' cultural and group-based identities in the learning environment. We are making certain assumptions as we try to teach for social transformation and cultural relevance. First, it is important to define what we mean by spirituality. As we've discussed elsewhere (Tisdell, 2003; Tolliver & Tisdell, 2001), spirituality is related to: (a) a connection to what many refer to as the Life-force, God, a higher power or purpose, Great Mystery, or Buddha Nature; (b) a sense of wholeness, healing, and the interconnectedness of all things; (c) meaning-making; (d) the ongoing development of one's identity (including one's cultural identity) moving toward greater authenticity; (e) how people construct knowledge through largely and symbolic processes manifested through image, symbol, and music, which are often cultural. In addition, spirituality is different from, but for some people, related to religion. Finally, spiritual experiences often happen by surprise. Understanding how these dimensions of spirituality play out in our own lives and those of adult learners with whom we work offers new direction to culturally relevant adult education. Second, based on our experience as educators, we are assuming people are more likely to have transformational experiences if they are engaged on three levels of their individual being: the cognitive, the affective, and the symbolic or spiritual. Clearly, people do not have transformative learning experiences about issues of race, gender, or culture and power disparities therein, only through rational discourse or critical reflection. While we agree, as Mezirow (1995) suggests, that critical reflection is necessary, we believe that it is EQUALLY necessary to engage people on the affective or heart level. Further, transformative learning is perhaps better anchored if we engage on the spiritual level as well, and draw on how people construct knowledge through processes. Thus, in our classes, participants often create and share a poem, an art piece, a story, a symbol that gives further meaning to their learning journey at the end of the course. This sometimes connects the cultural, the spiritual, the affective, and the cognitive dimensions of who they are. It's important for educators to both set the stage for connecting spirituality and culture and to provide some role modeling. We often begin our classes with a greeting or ritual that encourages learners to make contact with every other person in the group. As a woman of African descent, Derise (Tolliver) also incorporates African proverbs as a way to reflect upon the content of a course, the process of the work, or the energy of the group. …