Reclamation and emancipation in mindfulness and nature-based contemplative practice: A Sankofa-oriented collaborative autoethnography.
The American journal of orthopsychiatry January 1, 2026 Shelly P. Harrell, Dominique A Malebranche
Mindfulness programs that ignore cultural context and fail to address liberation may not fully support communities affected by social injustices. Two Black women psychologists describe how their own experiences led them to create mindfulness-based, emancipatory contemplative programs for Black and other racially minoritized groups who have faced colonial-cultural trauma and ongoing oppression. Using collaborative autoethnography and guided by the African wisdom of Sankofa, they identified four pathways: returning home; sacredness of culture, spirituality, and nature; movement and flow; and release, resistance, and reimagining. One program uses soulfulness as an entry to mindful awareness; the other uses water-based contemplative healing. The authors suggest that centering cultural resonance and these pathways can enhance well-being and advance a justice-oriented approach.