Mindful Activism: Autoethnographies of Social Justice Communication for Campus and Community Transformation

This collection immerses scholars of communication and related disciplines in narratives of and conversations about social-justice-focused activism.

Through autoethnographic essays, Mindful Activism chronicles the authors’ experiences as activist academics challenging and seeking to remedy injustices on campus and in local and global communities. Those experiences range from engaging in a single activist act to collaborating over many years with oppressed communities and social change groups. Building upon communication activism research and following a liberation-based transformative learning model, the book shows both activism in action and deep reflection on that activism. The authors re-experience activist experiences, draw out lessons, and invite readers to apply those to their own social justice endeavors. Mindful Activism also demonstrates how mindfulness supports activists in deepening their awareness and understanding of themselves, others, and social systems. This orientation increases the likelihood that activists will remain grounded enough to respond to injustice mindfully/effectively.

The book will enrich courses on activism, social justice, dialogue, narrative inquiry, qualitative methods, autoethnography, and general graduate studies, and will resonate with scholars committed to building a more equitable and just world.　

Lisa M. Tillmann, activist scholar and documentary filmmaker, holds the Kenan Chair of Critical Media and Cultural Studies (CMC) at Rollins College. She has authored two books, Between Gay and Straight: Understanding Friendship across Sexual Orientation and In Solidarity: Friendship, Family, and Activism Beyond Gay and Straight. Lisa’s documentaries, available on her YouTube channel, examine justice for LGBTQ+ persons and communities, body oppression and liberation, cultural narratives of obesity, higher education’s neoliberalization, and struggles college students face, including eating disorders and depression. Her relationship-centered activism has focused on issues such as LGBTQ+ civil rights and criminal justice reform.

Kathryn Norsworthy is a queer activist, counseling psychologist, and Cornell Chair of Graduate Studies in Counseling and of CMC at Rollins College. Her U.S. activism has centered on LGBTQ+ civil rights, gender justice, and immigrant rights. Kathryn began studying mindfulness meditation in Thailand and India in the 1980s. Since 1997, she has been working in solidarity with and accompanying colleagues in Southeast and South Asia; together they conduct mindfulness-based, trauma informed, feminist-liberation projects on such issues as violence against women, healing-centered peacebuilding in areas of ethno-political conflict, HIV-AIDS, women’s leadership, LGBTQ+ civil rights, and transnational activism and social change.

Steven Schoen, Associate Professor of CMC at Rollins College, is a media scholar focused on documentary. He came to higher education from work as a video producer/director specializing in production for nonprofit organizations. Increasingly he also studies activism and social justice education. Steve’s activism has focused on issues ranging from gun violence to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.