In the West, meditation has been particularly associated with Asian religions and seen as illustr... more In the West, meditation has been particularly associated with Asian religions and seen as illustrative of the mystical nature of eastern culture. This chapter explores the impact of the colonial encounter between Europe and Asia. In this context, Asian meditative prac tices became abstracted from their traditional cosmological, ritualistic, and cultural con texts and reframed in terms of key conceptual binaries and assumptions deriving from modern Western culture. These include a Cartesian distinction between mind and body (with mind being associated with meditation and Buddhist mindfulness, and the body linked to "Hindu" yoga and its modern postural forms). Asian forms of meditation were translated according to a modern psychological framework and encountered in relation to the dichotomies between science and religion on the one hand and religious tradition and a de-traditionalized notion of spirituality on the other. The approaches taken in the West ern encounter with Asian meditation tell us as much about the intellectual grooves of the modern Western episteme as they do about the Asian meditative traditions to which they relate.
Contemporary theoretical debates within the study of religion reflect the impact of a range of cr... more Contemporary theoretical debates within the study of religion reflect the impact of a range of critical theories inspired by feminist, poststructuralist, postcolonial and " queer " perspectives on the fijield. Much of this work reflects a radicalization of a post-Kantian notion of the social construction of reality. It is argued that such theories represent an unfolding of the social and cultural implications of the Kantian epistemological project and reflects a similar " Copernican Turn " involving the recognition that the object of study— " religion, " is a construct reflecting the meth-odological and theoretical assumptions of the researcher. The article then offfers a postcolonial critique of mainstream " secularist " historiographies of the fijield and argues for an alternative model for understanding the history and future of the fijield of the comparative study of religion, grounded in the practice of comparative cultural critique and commentary on dominant models of modernity.
This chapter examines the question of the role of intellectual analysis and ethical judgement in ... more This chapter examines the question of the role of intellectual analysis and ethical judgement in ancient Indian Buddhist accounts of sati and contemporary discourses about ‘mindfulness’. Attention is paid to the role of paññā (Sanskrit: prajñā: ‘wisdom’ or ‘analytical insight’) and ethical reflection in the cultivation of sati in mainstream Abhidharma and early Mahāyāna philosophical discussions in India, noting the existence of a subordinate strand of Buddhist thought which focuses upon the non-conceptuality of final awakening (bodhi) and the quiescence of mind. Modern discourses of mindfulness are examined in relation to detraditionalization, the global spread of capitalism and widespread adoption of new information technologies. It is argued that analysis of the exponential growth in popularity of ‘mindfulness’ techniques must be linked to an exploration of the modern history of attention, more specifically, the possibility that the use of fast-paced, digital, multimedia technologies is facilitating a demand for fragmented or dispersed attention. It is argued that the fault line between divergent contemporary accounts of mindfulness can be seen most clearly over the issue of the role of ethical judgements and mental ratiocination within mindfulness practice. The two most extreme versions on this spectrum see mindfulness on the one hand as a secular mental technology for calming the mind and reducing stress and discomfort, and on the other as a deeply ethical and experiential realization of the geopolitics of human experience. These, it is suggested, constitute an emerging discursive split in accounts of mindfulness reflective of divergent responses to the social, economic, political and technological changes occurring in relation to the global spread of neoliberal forms of capitalism.
In 2023/24, SOAS University of London launched the third year of its Co-Creator Internships Proje... more In 2023/24, SOAS University of London launched the third year of its Co-Creator Internships Project (CCIP) scheme for undergraduates enrolled in the School. The purpose of these internships is to grow collaborative communities of practice, and to support developments in learning, teaching, and assessment. Appreciating the value of this attractive institutional opportunity, four members of the academic staff teaching on SOAS’s BA World Philosophies programme developed the UK’s first ever Decolonising Philosophy Curriculum Toolkit with four undergraduate students across the humanities and social sciences. The hope was that the toolkit would radically enhance ways in which philosophy is taught and learned at advanced secondary and tertiary education levels in the UK.
The Project’s output, as presented here, is in a handbook form rather than a short and concise guide to decolonising philosophy curricula. As the team’s work developed, we collectively realised that, beyond providing a practical manual (the toolkit), it was necessary to provide the theoretical underpinnings of what we have understood the work of decolonising philosophy to be. After all, doing needs to be accompanied by thinking. As such, in this document, you will find an overview of the historical, institutional, and political context in which we work and what moved staff towards developing the UK’s only ‘World Philosophies’ undergraduate degree programme; §1 an extended argument for why decolonising the philosophy curriculum is required; §2 a detailed guide to implementing critical pedagogy in one’s practice; §3 an extended argument for decolonising assessment and formative activities in philosophy programmes; and §4 an example of how an epistemology module can be transformed to reflect decolonising principles as well as to provide students with a much richer account of the value and place of epistemological practices. Throughout the handbook, we have provided a list of references and additional sources to assist teachers and students in engaging with the recommendations we make.
The project is orientated around the following objectives: ▪ To face up honestly to and shed light on the ways in which Anglo-European racism, imperialism, and colonialism have adversely affected the organisation, learning content, classroom environment, formative learning activities, and summative assessment diet of philosophy curricula in the UK (and in the Anglo-European context more broadly). No one can reasonably deny that one of the multiple legacies of western imperial domination—especially the European colonisation of Africa, South Asia, South East Asia, North America, Central America, and South America8—has been (i) a racialised account of what counts as authoritative knowledge; (ii) a racialised account of whose knowledge matters; and (iii) a racialised account of what takes pride of place in what education institutions teach and how education institutions teach and assess that learning content. ▪ To offer constructive and implementable suggestions for expanding and transforming existing philosophy curricula at secondary and tertiary education levels, so that teachers and learners have richer, more in-depth, inclusive, and uplifting pedagogical experiences. This progressive discourse, as we will detail in subsequent sections, focuses on salient themes from critical pedagogy. ▪ To provide teachers and learners with effective ways of, what we call, redirecting the flow of epistemic power away from the Anglo-European world that is ideologically positioned at the ‘centre’10 to a horizontal, comparative, and dialogical model in which no geolocation occupies a privileged position. In this way, thinking in terms of world philosophies is the sublation of philosophy itself, to the point that philosophy as the love of wisdom logically requires practicing deep thinking and reflection in a global, critical, and comparative manner.
In the West, meditation has been particularly associated with Asian religions and seen as illustr... more In the West, meditation has been particularly associated with Asian religions and seen as illustrative of the mystical nature of eastern culture. This chapter explores the impact of the colonial encounter between Europe and Asia. In this context, Asian meditative prac tices became abstracted from their traditional cosmological, ritualistic, and cultural con texts and reframed in terms of key conceptual binaries and assumptions deriving from modern Western culture. These include a Cartesian distinction between mind and body (with mind being associated with meditation and Buddhist mindfulness, and the body linked to "Hindu" yoga and its modern postural forms). Asian forms of meditation were translated according to a modern psychological framework and encountered in relation to the dichotomies between science and religion on the one hand and religious tradition and a de-traditionalized notion of spirituality on the other. The approaches taken in the West ern encounter with Asian meditation tell us as much about the intellectual grooves of the modern Western episteme as they do about the Asian meditative traditions to which they relate.
Contemporary theoretical debates within the study of religion reflect the impact of a range of cr... more Contemporary theoretical debates within the study of religion reflect the impact of a range of critical theories inspired by feminist, poststructuralist, postcolonial and " queer " perspectives on the fijield. Much of this work reflects a radicalization of a post-Kantian notion of the social construction of reality. It is argued that such theories represent an unfolding of the social and cultural implications of the Kantian epistemological project and reflects a similar " Copernican Turn " involving the recognition that the object of study— " religion, " is a construct reflecting the meth-odological and theoretical assumptions of the researcher. The article then offfers a postcolonial critique of mainstream " secularist " historiographies of the fijield and argues for an alternative model for understanding the history and future of the fijield of the comparative study of religion, grounded in the practice of comparative cultural critique and commentary on dominant models of modernity.
This chapter examines the question of the role of intellectual analysis and ethical judgement in ... more This chapter examines the question of the role of intellectual analysis and ethical judgement in ancient Indian Buddhist accounts of sati and contemporary discourses about ‘mindfulness’. Attention is paid to the role of paññā (Sanskrit: prajñā: ‘wisdom’ or ‘analytical insight’) and ethical reflection in the cultivation of sati in mainstream Abhidharma and early Mahāyāna philosophical discussions in India, noting the existence of a subordinate strand of Buddhist thought which focuses upon the non-conceptuality of final awakening (bodhi) and the quiescence of mind. Modern discourses of mindfulness are examined in relation to detraditionalization, the global spread of capitalism and widespread adoption of new information technologies. It is argued that analysis of the exponential growth in popularity of ‘mindfulness’ techniques must be linked to an exploration of the modern history of attention, more specifically, the possibility that the use of fast-paced, digital, multimedia technologies is facilitating a demand for fragmented or dispersed attention. It is argued that the fault line between divergent contemporary accounts of mindfulness can be seen most clearly over the issue of the role of ethical judgements and mental ratiocination within mindfulness practice. The two most extreme versions on this spectrum see mindfulness on the one hand as a secular mental technology for calming the mind and reducing stress and discomfort, and on the other as a deeply ethical and experiential realization of the geopolitics of human experience. These, it is suggested, constitute an emerging discursive split in accounts of mindfulness reflective of divergent responses to the social, economic, political and technological changes occurring in relation to the global spread of neoliberal forms of capitalism.
In 2023/24, SOAS University of London launched the third year of its Co-Creator Internships Proje... more In 2023/24, SOAS University of London launched the third year of its Co-Creator Internships Project (CCIP) scheme for undergraduates enrolled in the School. The purpose of these internships is to grow collaborative communities of practice, and to support developments in learning, teaching, and assessment. Appreciating the value of this attractive institutional opportunity, four members of the academic staff teaching on SOAS’s BA World Philosophies programme developed the UK’s first ever Decolonising Philosophy Curriculum Toolkit with four undergraduate students across the humanities and social sciences. The hope was that the toolkit would radically enhance ways in which philosophy is taught and learned at advanced secondary and tertiary education levels in the UK.
The Project’s output, as presented here, is in a handbook form rather than a short and concise guide to decolonising philosophy curricula. As the team’s work developed, we collectively realised that, beyond providing a practical manual (the toolkit), it was necessary to provide the theoretical underpinnings of what we have understood the work of decolonising philosophy to be. After all, doing needs to be accompanied by thinking. As such, in this document, you will find an overview of the historical, institutional, and political context in which we work and what moved staff towards developing the UK’s only ‘World Philosophies’ undergraduate degree programme; §1 an extended argument for why decolonising the philosophy curriculum is required; §2 a detailed guide to implementing critical pedagogy in one’s practice; §3 an extended argument for decolonising assessment and formative activities in philosophy programmes; and §4 an example of how an epistemology module can be transformed to reflect decolonising principles as well as to provide students with a much richer account of the value and place of epistemological practices. Throughout the handbook, we have provided a list of references and additional sources to assist teachers and students in engaging with the recommendations we make.
The project is orientated around the following objectives: ▪ To face up honestly to and shed light on the ways in which Anglo-European racism, imperialism, and colonialism have adversely affected the organisation, learning content, classroom environment, formative learning activities, and summative assessment diet of philosophy curricula in the UK (and in the Anglo-European context more broadly). No one can reasonably deny that one of the multiple legacies of western imperial domination—especially the European colonisation of Africa, South Asia, South East Asia, North America, Central America, and South America8—has been (i) a racialised account of what counts as authoritative knowledge; (ii) a racialised account of whose knowledge matters; and (iii) a racialised account of what takes pride of place in what education institutions teach and how education institutions teach and assess that learning content. ▪ To offer constructive and implementable suggestions for expanding and transforming existing philosophy curricula at secondary and tertiary education levels, so that teachers and learners have richer, more in-depth, inclusive, and uplifting pedagogical experiences. This progressive discourse, as we will detail in subsequent sections, focuses on salient themes from critical pedagogy. ▪ To provide teachers and learners with effective ways of, what we call, redirecting the flow of epistemic power away from the Anglo-European world that is ideologically positioned at the ‘centre’10 to a horizontal, comparative, and dialogical model in which no geolocation occupies a privileged position. In this way, thinking in terms of world philosophies is the sublation of philosophy itself, to the point that philosophy as the love of wisdom logically requires practicing deep thinking and reflection in a global, critical, and comparative manner.
Uploads
Papers by Richard King
Introductory texts by Richard King
The Project’s output, as presented here, is in a handbook form rather than a short and concise guide to decolonising philosophy curricula. As the team’s work developed, we collectively realised that, beyond providing a practical manual (the toolkit), it was necessary to provide the theoretical underpinnings of what we have understood the work of decolonising philosophy to be. After all, doing needs to be accompanied by thinking. As such, in this document, you will find an overview of the historical, institutional, and political context in which we work and what moved staff towards developing the UK’s only ‘World Philosophies’ undergraduate degree programme; §1 an extended argument for why decolonising the philosophy curriculum is required; §2 a detailed guide to implementing critical
pedagogy in one’s practice; §3 an extended argument for decolonising assessment and formative activities in philosophy programmes; and §4 an example of how an epistemology module can be transformed to reflect decolonising principles as well as to provide students with a much richer account of the value and place of epistemological practices. Throughout the handbook, we have provided a list of references and additional sources to assist teachers and students in engaging with the recommendations we make.
The project is orientated around the following objectives:
▪ To face up honestly to and shed light on the ways in which Anglo-European racism, imperialism, and colonialism have adversely affected the organisation, learning content, classroom environment, formative learning activities, and summative assessment diet of philosophy curricula in the UK (and in the Anglo-European context more broadly). No one can reasonably deny that one of the multiple legacies of western imperial domination—especially the European colonisation of Africa, South Asia, South East Asia, North America, Central America, and South America8—has been (i) a racialised account of what counts as authoritative knowledge; (ii) a racialised account of whose knowledge matters; and (iii) a racialised account of what takes pride of place in what education institutions teach and how education institutions teach and assess that learning content.
▪ To offer constructive and implementable suggestions for expanding and transforming existing philosophy curricula at secondary and tertiary education levels, so that teachers and learners have richer, more in-depth, inclusive, and uplifting pedagogical experiences. This progressive discourse, as we will detail in subsequent sections, focuses on salient themes from critical
pedagogy.
▪ To provide teachers and learners with effective ways of, what we call, redirecting the flow of epistemic power away from the Anglo-European world that is ideologically positioned at the ‘centre’10 to a horizontal, comparative, and dialogical model in which no geolocation occupies a privileged position. In this way, thinking in terms of world philosophies is the sublation of philosophy itself, to the point that philosophy as the love of wisdom logically requires practicing deep thinking and reflection in a global, critical, and comparative manner.
The Project’s output, as presented here, is in a handbook form rather than a short and concise guide to decolonising philosophy curricula. As the team’s work developed, we collectively realised that, beyond providing a practical manual (the toolkit), it was necessary to provide the theoretical underpinnings of what we have understood the work of decolonising philosophy to be. After all, doing needs to be accompanied by thinking. As such, in this document, you will find an overview of the historical, institutional, and political context in which we work and what moved staff towards developing the UK’s only ‘World Philosophies’ undergraduate degree programme; §1 an extended argument for why decolonising the philosophy curriculum is required; §2 a detailed guide to implementing critical
pedagogy in one’s practice; §3 an extended argument for decolonising assessment and formative activities in philosophy programmes; and §4 an example of how an epistemology module can be transformed to reflect decolonising principles as well as to provide students with a much richer account of the value and place of epistemological practices. Throughout the handbook, we have provided a list of references and additional sources to assist teachers and students in engaging with the recommendations we make.
The project is orientated around the following objectives:
▪ To face up honestly to and shed light on the ways in which Anglo-European racism, imperialism, and colonialism have adversely affected the organisation, learning content, classroom environment, formative learning activities, and summative assessment diet of philosophy curricula in the UK (and in the Anglo-European context more broadly). No one can reasonably deny that one of the multiple legacies of western imperial domination—especially the European colonisation of Africa, South Asia, South East Asia, North America, Central America, and South America8—has been (i) a racialised account of what counts as authoritative knowledge; (ii) a racialised account of whose knowledge matters; and (iii) a racialised account of what takes pride of place in what education institutions teach and how education institutions teach and assess that learning content.
▪ To offer constructive and implementable suggestions for expanding and transforming existing philosophy curricula at secondary and tertiary education levels, so that teachers and learners have richer, more in-depth, inclusive, and uplifting pedagogical experiences. This progressive discourse, as we will detail in subsequent sections, focuses on salient themes from critical
pedagogy.
▪ To provide teachers and learners with effective ways of, what we call, redirecting the flow of epistemic power away from the Anglo-European world that is ideologically positioned at the ‘centre’10 to a horizontal, comparative, and dialogical model in which no geolocation occupies a privileged position. In this way, thinking in terms of world philosophies is the sublation of philosophy itself, to the point that philosophy as the love of wisdom logically requires practicing deep thinking and reflection in a global, critical, and comparative manner.