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The Role of Spirituality and Religion

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Narratives of Social Justice Educators

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Education ((BRIEFSEDUCAT))

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Abstract

This chapter presents the role spirituality and religion played as both a guidepost and a cause of disdain in the participants’ work for social justice. The participants reported that spirituality and religion play a critical role in standing firm for social justice in the context of neoliberal policies that undermine and thwart social justice education initiatives. Most participants reported that a strong sense of spirituality gives them courage and conviction to continue with social justice education. The chapter provides reasons for exploration of spirituality in classrooms. Reflection questions at the end of the chapter invite the reader to think about issues of spirituality and how spirituality can be a springboard for social justice education in spite of the tensions that exist between public education and spirituality.

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Correspondence to Shirley Mthethwa-Sommers .

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Mthethwa-Sommers, S. (2014). The Role of Spirituality and Religion. In: Narratives of Social Justice Educators. SpringerBriefs in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08431-2_8

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