A Difficult Dinner Party — Being Loved and Safe: How Spirituality in Education Can Open Inclusive Practices

Abstract

Four guest joined a dinner party conversation to discuss youth. Each guest was interested in and had some formal affiliation with spiritual practices, whether through the lens of the Indigenous, Mormon, Buddhist, Christian or “spiritual” beliefs in their orientation. The performance is a form of critical pedagogy, as the event was one in which the four presenters were actively considering dissenting and disaffected voices, querying the regulatory processes of many empirical and analytical approaches in advancing our understanding of the educational and social phenomena of youth. The performance setting of a dinner party was aspirational. An expanded view of spirituality and love provided common ground