Contemplative Studies Faculty
At Brown there are a number of professors who teach from a contemplative perspective or whose research includes a significant contemplative element; it is from this group that we would form the core faculty for the concentration. Many of these faculty members were part of the Wayland Symposium on Interdisciplinary Approaches to “Contemplative Mind” during the 2002-03 academic year. Some of them teach courses in which contemplative experience is studied primarily from a third-person approach; others primarily from a critical first-person approach; others blend both approaches. But all share a common vision that human contemplative experience is a valid and important subject for research and teaching. This group includes:
Michelle Bach-Coulibaly , Theatre Arts, who works with contemplative states induced through African dance and drumming;
Rick Benjamin, Education, who is interested in the use of poetry as a vehicle for contemplative pedagogy and in the role of community practice in the contemplative life;
Susan Bernstein , Comparative Literature, who works on contemplative aspects of post-modernist thought and literature;
Ruth Colwill , Psychology, who works on consciousness in animals;
Albert Dahlberg , BioMed, who is interested in complementary medicine, consciousness and creativity;
John Emigh , Theatre Arts, who often works with contemplative materials in his explorations of the various performing artistic traditions of the world;
Thalia Field, English and Creative Writing: a poet and performance artist whose works are grounded in the study of consciousness;
Forrest Gander, English and Creative Writing: a poet and essayist whose interests include the interplay of subjective and objective elements in the act of creation;
Paget Henry , Sociology and Africana Studies, who has studied, among other things, the contemplative practices of African and Afro-Caribbean religion;
Stephen Houston, Professor of Anthropology, has researched the beliefs and ritual practices of the Classic Maya, in particular their mythic topography, body concepts, and notions of experience and emotion. His next volume, The Memory of Bones: Body, Being, and Experience among the Classic Maya (U of Texas Press, co-authored with D. Stuart and K. Taube) reflects these interests.
David Jacobson, Judaic Studies, a specialist in Jewish literature with an interest in Hasidic Mystical Writings;
Roger Keyes, East Asian Studies, teaches contemplative approaches to art history and art, particularly Japanese art .
Dore Levy , Comparative Literature, who studies contemplative aspects of Chinese literature;
Robert Mathiesen , Slavic (Emeritus), a medieval philologist interested in the magic, mysticism and ritual practices of Eastern and Western Europe from Late Antiquity up to the present, and in their relevance to Contemplative Studies;
Hal Roth , Religious Studies, who works on the early Chinese mystical tradition of Taoism;
Tori Smith, Hispanic Studies, who is interested in the use of contemplative practices in foreign language education.
William Simmons, Anthropology, who studies religion and culture, Native American culture especially among New England tribes, and the purpose and practice of a liberal education;
Tom Webb , Geology (Emeritus), who works on geological time;
Donna Wulff , Religious Studies, who works with contemplative practices associated with South Asian religious drama.
A Contemplative Studies Steering Committee has formed from this core group and will guide the concentration for the first three years: Hal Roth, Al Dahlberg, Roger Keyes, Thalia Field, and John Emigh.
Until the Concentration becomes established, the Contemplative Studies Initiative faculty members are willing to guide work in their own areas of expertise and support students interested in developing an independent concentration.