Preface

Part I: Breaking the Silence: Spirituality and Culture in Adult Meaning-Making and Education 1

1. Introduction: Culture, Spirituality, and Adult Learning 3

2. Breaking the Silence: Defining Spirituality in a Culturally Relevant Educational Context 25

3. Spirituality, Religion, and Culture in Lived Experience: Overlaps and Separations 45

4. Between the Cultural and the Universal: Themes and Variations of Spiritual Experience 67

Part II: Claiming a Sacred Face: Identity and Spiritual Development 89

5. The Great Spiral: Spiritual Development as a Process of Moving Forward and Spiraling Back 93

6. Gender, Culture, and Spiritual Identity in Midlife Integration 117

7. The Role of Spiritual Experience in Developing a Positive Cultural Identity 139

8. Searching for Wholeness: Crossing Culture, White Identity, and Spiritual Development 163

Part III: Spirituality in a Culturally Relevant and Transformative Teaching Practice 183

9. Approaching Transformative Teaching Grounded in Spirituality and Cultural Relevance 187

10. A Theory-in-Progress of a Spiritually Grounded, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Philosophical Underpinnings and New Directions 203

11. Stories from the Field: Spirituality and Culture in Adult Higher Education Classrooms 219

12. The Possibilities and Challenges of Spiritually Grounded, Culturally Relevant Teaching 235

Epilogue: Final Reflections 259

Appendix: Research Methodology 263

References 271

Index 285

EXPLORE THE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE OF EDUCATION

"All teachers of adult and higher education should have a copy of this book. It is a beautifully written meditative and practical guide exploring the connection between culture and spirituality in teaching that points us towards a transforming experience for both teacher and student."
—David T. Abalos, professor of religious studies and sociology, Seton Hall University

"Through a compelling blend of vivid biographical vignettes and informed theoretical analysis, Elizabeth Tisdell explores how spirituality fires adults and higher educators' efforts to create culturally relevant practices. This will be a landmark text in our efforts to understand spirituality's intersections with education."
—Stephen Brookfield, Distinguished Professor, University of St. Thomas

"This book takes on a crucial topic at just the right time. Adult and higher education is ready for a revival of engagement with spirituality, and, along with this, the author manages to weave in three other thick skeins of thought: development, transformative learning, and cultural work. This book takes the hugely important step of seeking the deep truth in the interrelatedness of these skeins, and it moves the discourse ahead in concrete ways."
—Laurent A. Daloz, author, Mentor: Guiding the Journey of Adult Learners

"This book provides a valuable contribution to the literature on teaching in adult education and higher education. It is a pioneering work in the sense it is creating a direct link between spirituality, culture, and learning in adult and higher education. While there have been other attempts at addressing these issues, this is the first book, of which I am aware, that links all three together."
—Talmadge Guy, associate professor, School of Leadership and Lifelong Learning, University of Georgia

"This book reveals how spirituality exists as a powerful force that shapes and impacts learners and their learning experiences. It bravely treads where few have traveled by daring to discuss spirituality, culture, and education in the same breath."
—Juanita Johnson-Bailey, associate professor, Department of Adult Education and the Women's Studies Program, University of Georgia

"Tisdell has a unique perspective that is very much needed. Her awareness that one's spiritual perspective is based on one's idiosyncratic history which involves age, gender, experience, preferences, and culture is immensely wise."
—Jane Vella, author, Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach

"Through a compelling blend of vivid biographical vignettes and informed theoretical analysis, Elizabeth Tisdell explores how spirituality fires adult and higher educators' efforts to create culturally relevant practices. This will be a landmark text in our efforts to understand spirituality's intersections with education."
— Stephen Brookfield, Distinguished Professor, University of St. Thomas

"This book takes on a crucial topic at just the right time. Adult and higher education is ready for a revival of engagement with spirituality, and, along with this, the author manages to weave in three other thick skeins of thought: development, transformative learning, and cultural work. This book takes the hugely important step of seeking the deep truth in the interrelatedness of these skeins, and it moves the discourse ahead in concrete ways."
—Laurent A. Daloz, author, Mentor: Guiding the Journey of Adult Learners

"This book provides a valuable contribution to the literature on teaching in adult education and higher education. It is a pioneering work in the sense it is creating a direct link between spirituality, culture, and learning in adult and higher education. While there have been other attempts at addressing these issues, this is the first book, of which I am aware, that links all three together."
— Talmadge Guy, associate professor, School of Leadership and Lifelong Learning, University of Georgia

"This book reveals how spirituality exists as a powerful force that shapes and impacts learners and their learning experiences. It bravely treads where few have traveled by daring to discuss spirituality, culture, and education in the same breath."
— Juanita Johnson-Bailey, associate professor, department of Adult Education and the Women's Studies Program, The University of Georgia

"Tisdell has a unique perspective that is very much needed. Her awareness that one's spiritual perspective is based on one's idiosyncratic history which involves age, gender, experience, preferences, and culture is immensely wise."
—Jane Vella, author, Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach