Mindful Activism

Lisa M. Tillmann is an activist scholar–teacher and social justice documentary filmmaker. At Rollins College, she holds the William R. Kenan Chair of Critical Media and Cultural Studies.Her relationship-centered activism has focused on issues such as LGBTQ+ civil rights, criminal justice reform, economic equity, and reducing gun violence.Kathryn Norsworthy is a queer activist, counseling psychologist, and George D. & Harriet W. Cornell Chair of Graduate Studies in Counseling and of Critical Media and Cultural Studies at Rollins College. 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, focusing 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 Critical Media and Cultural Studies at Rollins College, is a media scholar focused on the rhetorics of documentary. He came to higher education from work as a video producer/director specializing in production for nonprofit organizations. Steve’s on- and off-campus activism has focused on issues ranging from gun violence to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.

"This is an important book for communicating both a vision of hands-on activist pedagogy and for understanding what it feels like to try to live up to the demands of collaborative activism both within and outside the university."—Arthur P. Bochner, National Communication Association Distinguished Scholar and Past President"This is an excellent text for any scholar who identifies as doing social justice work. Scholars who study identity groups or other groups impacted by social justice work (e.g., LGBTQ+, incarcerated people, refugees, etc.) should indeed read Mindful Activism, as it provides an excellent model for approaching the subject with principles of care, relationality, and the co-construction of knowledge."—Courtney D. Tabor, University of Oregon, USA

• Introduction: Birthing the Book 1. Sitting out “The Star-Spangled Banner” 2. Of All Days: Critical Pedagogy Outside the Classroom 3. Queer Border Crossings 4. Wind and Winding Roads: Friendship Amid Indefinite Confinement 5. “Say It Ain’t So”: Protecting a Nondiscrimination Policy from Appropriated Diversity Conclusion: Mindful Activists Debrief Mindful Activism