Transformative Spirituality and Citizenship

Abstract

By utilizing (post) (anti)colonial, indigenous, and ethnic studies based theories, we discuss the concept of transformative spirituality and its relationship to citizenship. Transformative aspects of spirituality not only critiques how spirituality of marginalized communities has been appropriated within the neo/colonial and neoliberal imagination but it also speaks about how spirituality can be a space of citizenship for marginalized communities. While providing decolonizing critiques on the current popularity of neo-liberal spirituality in western societies, we present how transformative spirituality can be mobilized to open up spaces for citizenship. Despite historically situated different approaches toward decolonizing across variously colonized communities, our analysis on spirituality demonstrates how marginalized communities have always critiqued Orientalist spirituality and developed alternative spaces of spiritual citizenships that seek social change and transformative politics.