The Power of Contemplative Practice in the Spirit of Convivencia

podcastOPTalks
Written By Open Plaza

Artist and Dr. Yohana Junker and Rev. Dr. Aizaiah Yong discuss the transformative practice of integrating art, spirituality, and convivencia with students

Carlos Almaraz, I Dreamed I Could Fly, 1986, pastel on paper, 44 × 30 in. (111.8 × 76.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Margery and Maurice H. Katz, 2014.44, © 1986, Carlos Almaraz Estate

 
 

This OPTalks episode features a conversation between Dr. Yohana Junker and Rev. Dr. Aizaiah Yong exploring the intersections of art, spirituality, and decolonial studies within theological education. Reflecting on their co-teaching experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, Drs. Yong and Junker highlight the necessity of cultivating inclusive and compassionate classroom environments. The dialogue highlights how spiritual practices and artistic expression are vital tools for healing and social justice, which enable students to bring their full selves into the learning process while deepening connections.

They discuss the transformative power of relationships within the context of higher education while critiquing Eurocentric individualist frameworks from their chapter, "Contemplative Practices and Acts of Resistance in Higher Education: Narratives Towards Wholeness." They also argue for a holistic approach that honors the interconnectedness of students' emotional, psychological, and vocational lives.

Their collaboration as co-educators emphasizes how mutual support, compassionate listening, and convivencia foster resilience and hope in academic spaces often marked by structural violence and disconnection. Additionally, the ongoing challenges of navigating personal and collective grief while striving for justice and liberation can be met in these spaces. Dr. Junker says she, "…didn't want to just write out of like, oh, here's a spiritual practice, this is going to…help you in these ways, without sitting with the actual grief of working in institutions of higher education, working within power structures that are very asymmetrical, that have perpetrated, you know, historically so much violence against people like you and me,” to which Rev. Dr. Yong responds, “We're also confronting intergenerational trauma, historical trauma, against people, groups done in the name of religion and white supremacy.”

 
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Yohana Junker

Dr. Yohana Junker is an Associate Professor of Art, Spirituality, and Culture and Associate Dean for Spiritual Life at Claremont School of Theology. Dr. Junker’s research and publications probe the intersections among the fields of art history, eco-criticism, and decolonial studies, with special attention to contemporary Indigenous and diasporic art practices. In her writing, art, and activism, she explores the human capacity to imagine and retrieve generative ways of being even in the face of impossibility. She also investigates the ways artists create poetic spaces that allow viewers to come together, reclaim agency, and restore a sense of purpose, a thirst for justice, and a desire for transformation. Her artwork is central to her scholarship and activism. Dr. Junker holds a  PhD in Art and Religion from Graduate Theological Union; an MTS in Visual Arts and Spirituality, Theological Aesthetics and Art History from Christian Theological Seminary; and a BA in Journalism and Communications from Universidade Metodista de São Paulo. She is co-editing, with Dr. Aaron Rosen, Modern and Contemporary Artists on Religion: A Global Sourcebook (Bloomsbury).

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Aizaiah Yong

Rev. Dr. Aizaiah G. Yong is an administrative faculty member and practical theologian at the Claremont School of Theology. There he also co-directs professional doctoral programs related to contemplative leadership & the Center for Engaged Compassion (CEC). The CEC is devoted to co-repairing the world through the teaching, study, and cultivation of compassion. Ordained as a Pentecostal Christian minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and with strong ties to the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM), he has over 15 years of experience in religious and higher education leadership, healing, and advocacy work informed by psychospiritual practice, and international public speaking. Together he, his life partner Nereyda Yong, and his father Amos Yong, have co-founded Spirited Renewal, an organization devoted to transforming 21st-century spirituality, culture, and relationships. Rev. Dr. Yong is a trusted thought leader on issues at the intersections of spiritual, cultural, and relational transformation. His forthcoming book, Trauma and Renewal: Toward Spiritual, Communal, and Holistic Transformation (Orbis Books, 2025) received the nationally acclaimed 2023 Louisville Institute Book Grant for Scholars of Color. Multiracial Cosmotheandrism: a Practical Theology of Multiracial Experiences (Orbis Books, 2023) received the 2020 Hispanic Theological Initiative Dissertation Prize and the 2022 Raimon Panikkar Prize. Rev. Dr. Yong holds a PhD in Practical Theology: Intercultural Education and Formation, from Claremont School of Theology; an MA in Theology and Culture from Northwest University; and a BS in Organizational Leadership and Management from Regent University. His greatest joys are being in a life partnership with Neddy and being a parent to awe-inspiring children.

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