The Knowledge Landscape of 念 ( - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The Knowledge Landscape of 念 (niàn) / Mindfulness: Intercultural Ethics for Transcreation

Zhuomin HuangRichard FayRoss White

19

th CultNet Meeting Durham. 21st-23rd April, 2016

1Slide2

ContentThe Conceptual Migration of Mindfulness

The Complexities and Dynamics in the Transcreation of Knowledge LandscapesIntercultural Ethics

2Slide3

3

Some TermsSlide4

Knowledge Landscape A metaphor for the study of the complex intellectual, personal and physical environment in which people

work (Clandinin & Connelly, 1995: 673)

4

‘a sense of expansiveness and the possibility of being filled with diverse people, things, and events in different relationships’‘understanding professional knowledge as comprising a landscape calls for a notion of professional knowledge as composed of … relationships among people, places, and things, we see it as both an intellectual and a moral landscape’ Slide5

Transcreation‘Transformative Creation

’The processes and products of interthinking (Littleton & Mercer, 2013) and inter-transformative-thinkingthe

inter-transformative complexities of knowledge development5Slide6

6

Part 1:

The Conceptual Migration of MindfulnessSlide7

Mindfulness

Emptiness De-attachment Chan/Zen

The practice of ‘HEART’

niàn

Stillness and Observation

7

East

WestSlide8

Mindfulness in the Orient

The Origin of Mindfulness:

Indian Buddhism (2600 years ago)‘Sati’: ‘memory’ - the constant presence of mind, meaning ‘remember to be aware of’

Dimensions of TeachingsSpreading (1st Century): S.E. Asia: e.g. Thailand: สติ (saL dtiL)China: 念 (niàn)Vietnam (niệm)Korea: 念/염 (nyem)Japan: 念 (nen)8Slide9

2. Merged with Chinese Traditional Philosophies (诸子百家) :

Cognition/PsychologyMindfulness: ‘True Balance

(禅定)’ Yin Yang ‘Balance’ (阴阳消长)Daoism ‘

Body + Energy + Spirit’ (形气神) D./Confucius ‘Man-Nature-Unity’ (天人合一)MoralityMindfulness: ‘Compassion’ (慈悲观) Confucius ‘The Study of Ren’ (仁学; i.e. Benevolence)3. Gradually fading in the 20th CenturyMindfulness in China1. The Chinese Character: reciting and remembering by heart (i.e.

口吟心忆)

(

niàn

)

9

释

道

儒Slide10

PsychotherapiesT

he late 19th and 20

th: the ‘third wave’ of refashioning the traditionsJon Kabat-Zinn (1982): ‘

a process of paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally’The effectiveness of treating psychological problems , especially for reducing anxiety, depression and stress (Khoury et al., 2013)10Slide11

EducationEllen Langer

(1993; 2013; 2000: 220): a flexible state of mind in which new information and new contexts are actively engaged

A mindfulness-approach to learningExample key qualities: openness to new information;

continuous creation of new categories; implicit awareness of multiple perspectives.11Slide12

Intercultural CommunicationStella Ting-Toomey (1988; 2007; 2010)

: a means of rethinking one’s assumptions about oneself and the world by being attentive and attuned to ‘I-identity’, ‘they-identity’ and ‘we identity’

A dimension of Facework-Based Model of Intercultural Competences: flexibility, openness, awareness, tolerance, empathy and creativity in IC (Ting-Toomey & Kurogi, 1998).

Other examples: Intercultural Competences (Gudykunst, 1993; Deardorff, 2009) Cultural Intelligence: a metacognitive process (Thomas, 2006; Earley & Ang, 2003)12Slide13

Migrations to and across the Occident Mindfulness in Intercultural Communication:

Origins: Psychotherapy? Education? Oriental Buddhism? ‘Mindfulness (Thich, 1991)

means … According to Langer (1989; 1997), to act mindfully, we should learn to…’ (Ting-Toomey & Kurogi, 1998).An interview of

Ting-Toomey (Perez Canado, 2008): the social psychological perspectives of mindfulness offered by Langer‘… actually taken from a very strong concept in Buddhism … so it has a very strong Eastern philosophical root’13Slide14

The Conceptual Migration of Mindfulness14

A map of the migratory

complexity involving:Multi-lingualMulti-disciplinaryMulti-directional

Multi-ideologicalMulti-cultural Multi-chronemicPerspectivesSlide15

Migrations through Time

East

West

Indian Buddhism‘sati’ East Asia: e.g. China 念(niàn)Southeast Asia: e.g. Thailand สติ (saL dtiL)

Tibet

Oriental Religions/Philosophies

Western

Disciplines

Intercultural Communication

Education

Psychotherapy

Migrations across Space

Ancient

Recent

Future

Zone One

Zone Three

Zone Two

Zone

One

: Migrations across

the ancient

Orient

Zone

Two

: Migrations across modern Western

Disciplines

Religious – Philosophical – Secular

Zone

Three

:

Occidental



Oriental

Exchanges Slide16

Part 2:

The Complexities and Dynamics in the Transcreation of Knowledge Landscapes

16Slide17

Knowledge Flows17

HIC

LMIC

Counter-flowDominant-flowDominant-flows: Knowledge that originated from HIC and that has influenced practice in LMICCounter-flows: knowledge that originated from LMIC and that has influenced practice in HIC(White et al., 2014).Slide18

18

HIC

LMICCounter-flow

Dominant-flowCriticism: It may be that implicit and explicit barriers are serving to limit counterflows. For example, it is possible that prejudicial attitudes in HIC serve to inhibit counterflows.(White et al., 2014)Knowledge FlowsSlide19

Counter-flow

19

(White et al., 2014)

Dominant Power StructureComparative Lack of Research in LMICChallenges of measuring counter-flowsPrejudicial attitudes towards non-western approaches

Recommendation 1: To maximize the potential for counter-flowsSlide20

Recommendation 2: To foster common-flows

20

HICLMIC

Dominant-flow(White et al., 2014)Common FlowCounter-flowSlide21

The Originating Orient to the Appropriating OccidentAppropriation flow: Western scholars

adopted, appropriated even, those ‘mechanics’ of mindfulness which they could make knowable, operationalisable, and measurable for the evidence-based culture

of Western sciences and related professional practices (e.g. Psychotherapy) (White & Sashidharan, 2014): e.g. practitioners from the powerful North/HIC have lifted the concept from its traditional root (in the South/LMIC), and transplanted it to a secularised

context, and bent on pragmatic purposes in which the (often English-medium) academic and psychotherapeutic discourses of Western approaches are privileged (Bodhi, 2011: 35). 21Slide22

Dominant Flows from the Occident to the OrientSince 2009

Western understanding of mindfulness A psychological (meditation) tool for improving negative emotions (e.g. stress & depression)A modern pursuit: Mindfulness for Success (

成功学)

‘approved by the West’‘a high status in the West’‘influential in the West’,

‘popular in the West’

‘a

Western

psychotherapy’

“正念疗法，已被

西方

医疗界所肯定多年，。。。现已成为

西方

身心医疗的方法之一。 ”

—

《

正念

》

“正念修行在

西方世界

拥有崇高的地位和广泛的影响力，。。。它是

西方国家

最为普及、最爱关注、最有影响力的佛教修行体系。”

—

《

图解正念：成功者必有正念

》

22

Gaining credentials and reinforcing the privilegesSlide23

Acknowledging Sources/Credentials

Western

favoured/privileged 23

Eastern perspectives‘approved by the West’‘a high status in the West’

‘influential in the West’,

‘popular in

the West

’

‘a

Western

psychotherapy’

Western Perspectives

‘Mindfulness-based

stress reduction (

MBSR)…

removed

the

Buddhist

framework and eventually

downplayed

any

connection between mindfulness

and Buddhism

, instead putting it in a

scientific

context’

‘…

mindfulness is

not itself Buddhist at all

but really a

universal pathway

to

sanity and well-being

…’

‘

Historically,

mindfulness has been called “the heart” of Buddhist

meditation

…’Slide24

Counter-flows from the Orient

Clarifying the Western-based understandings of mindfulness: ‘non-judgemental’? ‘present-centred

’? Defending ‘authentic’ (typically Buddhist) understandings of mindfulness from the distortions, misunderstandings, and dilutions of Western understandings of the concept (e.g. Dreyfus & Thompson, 2007; Bodhi, 2011; Varela & Shear, 1999)

24Slide25

The Promise of Common Flows

Further explicated flows of responses, and potentially conversations (Bodhi, 2010; Kirmayer, 2015): Inconsistency? Unauthenticity?

ORCreative ‘Misreadings’? New Possibilities? Hyland’s (2011): ‘the origins

, nature and functions of mindfulness - from its roots … to modern secular, therapeutic perspectives - have established a foundation upon which to examine various conceptions of mind …’ (p. 37). 25Slide26

Migrations through Time

East

West

Indian Buddhism‘sati’ East Asia: e.g. China 念(niàn)Southeast Asia: e.g. Thailand สติ (saL dtiL)

Tibet

Oriental Religions/Philosophies

Western

Disciplines

Intercultural Communication

Education

Psychotherapy

Religious – Philosophical – Secular

Migrations across Space

Ancient

Recent

Future

Zone One

Zone Three

Zone Two

①

②

③

④

①

:

Flows from the Originating Orient to the Appropriating

Occident

②

:

Dominant Flows from the Occident to the

Orient

③

:

Counter Flows from the

Orient to the Occident

④

: Opportunities of

conversations and the promise of common-flowsSlide27

Part 3:

Intercultural Ethics

27Slide28

A call for Intercultural Ethics

All ‘transcreators’ of knowledge landscapes should be：

informed about, and respectful of, the origins of the ideas they use; accepting of the

co-existence of other ways of seeing and understanding things; andopen to the mutually enriching interconnections between these different ways of thinking A collective wisdom of discipline(s) (e.g. Asante, Miike & Yin, 2013) 28Slide29

Intercultural Ethics

Resonances with e.g.: awareness (Ting-Toomey, 1988), decentred-attitude (Holliday, 2013) and responsibility (

Guilherme et al., 2010; Phipps, 2013)Phipps (2013): to ‘work within conceptualization and critiques of globalization

, democracy and human rights’ (p. 11), and to frame the knowledge-work with ‘justice and equality… and take their work towards an embrace of complexity and open-endedness; engagement with what is … believed to be restorative, collaborative, participatory, sensory, even healing; to allowing for methodological creativity and artistry…’ (p. 14)29Slide30

Intercultural Ethics for Knowledge-Landscape T

ranscreationImportant role for

intercultural ethics in the evolving knowledge landscapes of all disciplines, and in the transcreational processes

through which they developOur transcreational knowledge projects: e.g. mindfulness, intercultural communication, global mental health, education30Slide31

ReferencesAsante, M. K.,

Miike, Y. & Yin, J. (2013). The Global Intercultural Communication Reader. London: Routledge.Bodhi, B. (2011). What does mindfulness really mean: A canonical perspective. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(01), 19-39.

Clandinin, D. J. & Connelly, F. M. (1995). Teachers’ Professional Knowledge Landscapes. New York: Teachers College Press.Deardorff, D. K. (ed.) (2009). The Sage Handbook of Intercultural Competence. New York: SAGE Publications. Dreyfus, G. B. & Thompson, E. (2007). Chapter 5: Asian perspectives: Indian theories of mind. In Zelazo P. D., Moscovitch

M. & Thompson E. (eds.) Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness (pp. 89-144). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Earley, P. C. & Ang, S. (2003). Cultural Intelligence: An Analysis of Individual Interactions across Cultures. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Gudykunst, W. B. (1993). Toward a theory of effective interpersonal and intergroup communication. In Wiseman R. J. & Koester J. (eds.), Intercultural Communication Competence (pp. 33-71) Newbury Park: SAGE Publications.Guilherme, M., Glaser, E. & Mendez-Garcia, M. D. C. (2010). The Intercultural Dynamics of Multicultural Working. Bristol: Multilingual Matters Holliday, A. R. (2013). The politics of ethics in diverse cultural settings: Colonising the centre stage. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 43(4), 537-554.Hyland, T. (2011). Mindfulness and Learning: Celebrating the Affective Dimension of Education. London: Springer Science & Business Media. Kabat-Zinn, J. (1982). An out-patient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: Theoretical considerations and preliminary results. General Hospital Psychiatry, 4(1), 33-47.Khoury, B., Lecomte, T., Fortin, G., Masse, M., Therien, P., Bouchard, V., ... & Hofmann, S. G. (2013). Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(6), 763-771. Kirmayer, L. J. (2015). Mindfulness in cultural context. Transcultural Psychiatry, 52(4), 447-469.

Lan, M. (2009). 图解正念：成功者必有正念. [Visualising Mindfulness: Successful People Need Mindfulness]. Shanxi: Shanxi Normal University Press. Langer, E. (1993). A mindful education. Educational

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Langer

, E., (2000). Mindful learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 9(6),

220–223

.

Langer

, E., (2013). The Mindful Mind. The Power of Mindful Learning. The American Journal of Psychology. 110 (2): 309–314.

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内容简介

. [Content Introduction.]

正念

. [

Mindfulness

]. Hainan: Hainan press.

Littleton

, K. & Mercer, N. (2013). 

Interthinking

: Putting Talk to Work

. London: Routledge.

Thomas

, D. C. (2006). Domain and Development of Cultural Intelligence The Importance of Mindfulness. Group & Organization Management, 31(1), 78-99.

Ting-Toomey, S. (1988). Intercultural conflict styles: A face-negotiation theory. In Kim Y. Y. &

Gudykunst

W. (eds.),

Theories in Intercultural Communication

(pp. 213-235). Newbury Park:

SAGE

Publications.

Ting-Toomey, S. &

Kurogi

, A. (1998).

Facework

competence in intercultural conflict: An updated face-negotiation theory.

International Journal of Intercultural Relations

, 22(2), 187–225.

Ting-Toomey, S. (2007). Researching intercultural conflict competence. Journal of International Communication, 13(2), 7–30.Ting-Toomey, S. (2012). Communicating across Cultures. New York: Guilford.Ting-Toomey, S. & Kurogi, A., (1998). Facework competence in intercultural conflict: An updated face-negotiation theory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 22, 187–225.Khoury, B., Lecomte, T., Fortin, G., Masse, M., Therien, P., Bouchard, V., ... & Hofmann, S. G. (2013). Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(6), 763-771.Perez Canado, M. L. (2008). Interview with Stella Ting-Toomey. Language and Intercultural Communication, 8(3), 209-217.Phipps, A. (2013). Intercultural ethics: Questions of methods in language and intercultural communication. Language and Intercultural Communication, 13(1), 10-26.Piet, J., & Hougaard, E. (2011). The effect of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for prevention of relapse in recurrent major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical psychology review, 31(6), 1032-1040.Varela, F. & Shear, J. (1999). First-person accounts: Why, what, and how. Thorverton: Imprint Academic.White, R. G. & Sashidharan, S. P. (2014). Reciprocity in global mental health policy. Disability and the Global South, 1(2), 227-250.White, R., Jain, S., & Giurgi-Oncu, C. (2014). Counterflows for mental well-being: What high-income countries can learn from Low and middle-income countries. International Review of Psychiatry, 26(5), 602-606.31