ANTH 269
Mindfulness Examined: Meditation, Emotion, and Affective Neuroscience Fall 2022
Division II Writing Skills Difference, Power, and Equity
Cross-listed REL 269 / STS 269 / ASIA 269
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

This course provides a social analysis of and practical engagement with mindfulness in the US today. It considers the modern applications of Buddhist meditation as a tool to improve awareness of the related processes of mind, behavior, and emotions within landscapes structured by racism, sexism, and other systemic inequalities. We consider how mindfulness relates to Buddhist discourses as well as the rapid rise of fields like contemplative neuroscience, affective neuroscience, and integrative neurobiology. How can mindfulness help people communicate more effectively–be they doctors or patients, teachers or students?How has the exploding research on mindfulness and meditation since 2000 help us understand the intersection of human emotions, behaviors, and relationships? We train in a variety of Buddhist meditation practices through the semester including forest bathing, mindfulness, compassion meditation, while unpacking the subjective experience of our minds and emotions first-hand. Students will be asked to train in mindfulness practices the entire semester while studying models of the mind developed by research in clinical and evolutionary psychology, affective neuroscience, and interpersonal neuroscience.
The Class: Format: tutorial
Limit: 10
Expected: 10
Class#: 1355
Grading: yes pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: weekly tutorial papers and discussion
Prerequisites: A prior class or some experience with meditation is recommended
Enrollment Preferences: ANTH, SOC, REL, ASST majors; PHLH, STS concentrators; seniors and juniors
Distributions: Division II Writing Skills Difference, Power, and Equity
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
REL 269 Division II STS 269 Division II ANTH 269 Division II ASIA 269 Division II
WS Notes: This class will involve weekly tutorial essays or oral responses, intensive written feedback on every essay, and a mid-semester 'writing chat' with the instructor.
DPE Notes: This class fulfills the Difference, Power, and Equity requirement because it will explore the ways that mindfulness can address the growing epidemic of anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues we find in the US today. We study mindfulness from an intersectional perspective and relate its benefits to intersecting inequities and intergenerational trauma in the US today.
Attributes: GBST South + Southeast Asia Studies
PHLH Social Determinants of Health

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