Displaying 1 - 2 of 2
The psychological and socio-economic implications of digital technologies call for scholarship that engages questions about the nature of human consciousness, the construction of the self and the ethics of technical development. In this article, I outline a framework for an approach called contemplative media studies. This approach incorporates several different scholarly threads, namely: via critical political-economic media scholarship, a focus on achieving social and economic justice through policy initiatives and structural reform; via media and religious scholarship, an interest in the religious dimensions of digital culture and the role of media in shaping religious identity; and via contemplative studies, an appreciation of the applicability of contemplative principles to research methods and theory. This framework allows us to examine the spiritual ideology that drives the construction of commercial digital platforms and to ask whether alternative platforms might better catalyze human development. Anchored in a critical commitment to socio-economic justice, contemplative media studies is aimed at articulating an ethically-responsive and economically-sustainable architecture of human flourishing.
For an upper-level Media Studies seminar, I developed two complimentary case studies that explore the relationship between music, identity, and contemplative practice. The first focuses on avant-garde composer John Cage, whose work incorporates ideas from Zen Buddhism, Indian philosophy, and the I Ching. The second focuses on jazz composer John Coltrane, whose “free jazz” approach harnesses the power of group improvisation as a technique for spiritual exploration. The juxtaposition of Cage and Coltrane’s work accomplishes a few important pedagogical tasks. First, it allows students to explore the ways in which the composition and performance of popular music serve as a form of contemplative practice. Second, it highlights the similarities and differences in various historical struggles for equality among sexual and racial minorities, and the role of contemplative practice in those struggles. (Cage was gay and Coltrane was African-American). Students are encouraged to draw connections to recent LGBTQ and racial justice activism. Third, it shows how the constraints of a consumer economy can enhance, but also hinder, the quest for spiritual meaning and authenticity. Such commercial pressures can impact the ongoing development of contemplative practices, shaping their long-term socio-cultural impact. If executed well, with proper contextualization, the lessons and in-class contemplative exercises described here may enhance students’ appreciation of music composition and performance as forms of contemplative practice with socially transformative potential.