The Expectation of Fragmentation: Theorizing the Ecology of the Self

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 11:40 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: The Impact of Current Socio-Political Contexts on Religion and Education (Table 7)

Abstract

The article offers a first person reflection on the myriad ways that the academy seduces scholars into fragmenting their lives and selves in order to succeed. In particular, the author wrestles with the tensions in educational theory and classrooms to fully integrate or be open to conversations about the integration of religion (re: Christianity) and educational pedagogy and policy. The author offers several helpful moves that invite readers into complexities of her experiences of fragmentation and desire to fully integrate her “mind, body and spirit”. She also offers the preliminary contours of an ecology of the self that has the potential to be a significant contribution to conversations in teacher education, student-learning and even in religious studies and theological education.

Author

• Amber Neal-Stanley, Purdue University