Engendering Hope: Spirituality in Urban Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 44
  In Roundtable Session: Spirituality and Education SIG Roundtables

Abstract

Indigenous African practices and beliefs hold that humans are connected to nature, the cosmos, and all things in the universe. Thus, even when referring to education, we cannot exclude the Spirit. This paper emerged from a yearlong study of a holistic African centered program which conceptualized the whole self as: spiritual, mental, ancestral, physical and social. In particular, it focuses on a group of urban youth of African decent experiences when the spiritual self is explicitly addressed and developed. The study revealed that specific focus on the human spirit engendered hope in youth who face daily social toxins and gave urban youth a safe and peaceful space.

Author

• Tabora A. Johnson, Medger Evers College - CUNY