Business and Projects 2. Mapping the Field: The Handbook of Contemplative and Holistic Education

• In Event: Groundbreaking Venue to Publish Your Manuscripts: Introduction of the Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education (JCHE)

Abstract

This presentation will share about the upcoming Handbook of Contemplative and Holistic Education, a Bloomsbury volume co-edited by several members of the Journal of Contemplative Inquiry and Holistic Education editorial team. The handbook is a comprehensive volume of essays on various theories, practices, and approaches to inquiry related to contemplative and holistic education, with contributions from leading experts across a range of disciplines and around the world.
There are two primary goals of this presentation. First, the presentation will explain the significance and goals of the handbook, which we (co-editors) see as a timely and important volume. In the current age of the Anthropocene, characterized by escalating climate crisis and geo-political conflicts, both human civilization and the ecosphere writ large are facing significant threats. Within this global context, educational institutions are being challenged by growing systemic inequity, widespread disconnection from nature, and fragmented learning experiences caused by technocratic demands for specialization and skill-based training. The handbook responds to the growing marketization, mechanization, and homogenization of education systems around the world, by featuring, instead, educational theory, research, and pedagogies that center the integration of mind, body, heart, and spirit through contemplative, creative, spiritual, and holistic means. It brings together leading international scholars, educators, and knowledge keepers with expertise in diverse contemplative, spiritual, and holistic education traditions and practices for cultivating holistic well-being and wisdom. In many ways, dominant educational systems around the world today are complicit in perpetuating societal injustices and precipitating compounding (poly)crises. At the same time, a growing number of educators, scholars, students, and communities are calling for education that prepares students to have the awareness, capability, compassion, and wisdom to respond appropriately and effectively to our current contexts.
Indeed, contemplative and holistic approaches to education have, for centuries, facilitated the development of the type of skills, self-awareness and self-knowledge, curiosity, and care that are needed to address these present challenges. Yet, they have long been systematically marginalized in formal education spaces. As such, the handbook preserves and extends the wisdom of contemplative and holistic education by linking such traditions and lineages of practice with contemporary contexts, theoretical developments, and educational research, in ways that are both thought-provoking and accessible to a range of audiences.
The second goal of the presentation is to offer audience members insight into the process of editing and publishing a volume such as The Handbook of Contemplative and Holistic Education. In the spirit of wanting to see more scholarship in the area of holistic education, and more scholars (and aspiring scholars) pursuing research and practice related to holistic education, this presentation seeks to demystify the process of connecting and working with large publishing companies such as Bloomsbury. We will detail how the handbook project began, what steps were necessary to secure a publishing contract, and how we went about fulfilling our roles as volume editors. Questions from the audience will be encouraged during this portion of the presentation.

Author

• Sachi Edwards, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa