Secular Mindfulness and Fear of Asian Foreignness: Racialized Erasure of Buddhism in U.S. Mindfulness Programs

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Nine
  In Roundtable Session: Increasing Visibility and Equity: Narratives of Teachers Striving for Change (Table 1)

Abstract

The resurgence of violence against Asian Americans demonstrates a need to critically analyze the ways that schools participate in the racialization of Asian American students. This paper examines one seemingly benign and increasingly popular educational phenomenon—mindfulness—to investigate how mindfulness based programs (MBPs) may actually contribute to the othering of Asian Americans as foreign and dangerous. Despite being labeled ‘secular,’ mindfulness draws from Buddhist practice. Yet the literature on mindfulness in schools is abound with “apologetic” statements that attempt to distance mindfulness from its Buddhist foundation to assuage fears of students being inculcated into a “foreign” religion. This
paper examines discourses of secularity in five MBPs and attends to moments of cultural erasure, commodification, and racial-religious messages about Asian-ness.

Author

• Funie Hsu/Chhî, San Jose State University
  Presenting Author