The Rūmī Corner: An Alternative School

• In Event: Multiple Lenses on Spirituality in Education

Abstract

The Rūmī Corner is an alternative school that engages with non-European paradigms of knowledge. In this educational space, the spiritual, moral, and critical teachings of Persian philosopher-poet Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi Rūmī, known in the West as Rumi are centered. The Rūmī Corner continues the conversation on alternative schools that have historically been grounded in in Summerhillean principles or critical pedagogical theories. The theoretical contribution of this project is a critically diverse conceptualization of alternative schools rooted in Islamic mysticism and spirituality. The inquiry is conceptual in nature and as such I propose the alternative educational institution, the Rūmī Corner, grounded in Rūmī’s seven stages of enlightenment in pursuit of subjective and spiritual consciousness, and inner wisdom.

Author

• Soudeh Oladi, University of Toronto
  Presenting Author