Mindfulness Meditation as a Remedy to "White Ignorance" and Its Consequences
Wioleta Polinska
Buddhist-Christian Studies 2018 DOI: 10.1353/bcs.2018.0026 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Interventions | Meditation loving-kindness practices |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key findings | Argues that racial prejudice harms both white people and Black people psychologically and physically, so reducing it requires more than rational critique of racist beliefs. The author proposes that meditation and contemplative practices from religious traditions may reduce implicit and explicit racial bias among white people and offer health benefits to African Americans facing discrimination, and describes "community engaged mindfulness" used by legal scholars, activists, and police officers. |
Abstract
By employing recent work on epistemology of white ignorance, this article argues that racial prejudice impacts both whites and Blacks in a profound way that extends beyond the cognitive discrimination to the realm of psychological and physical well-being. Given that the mechanism of racial discrimination affects the whole embodied being of both victims and oppressors, theologians need to investigate ways of reducing prejudice that extend beyond the rational countermeasures that offer severe criticism of racist thoughts and behaviors. The latest research shows that various forms of meditations might offer effective means of reducing both implicit as well as explicit racial bias among the white population. Since Christian and other religious communities center their teachings on love and compassion for the "other," tapping into the contemplative resources present in various religious traditions is an indispensable step toward reducing racial forms of prejudice. There is evidence that those discriminated against can also benefit from meditation. Because discrimination affects the mind and the body of those discriminated against, African American scholars have turned their attention to mind-body approaches. African American health psychologists, community health researchers, and legal scholars investigate ways that meditation practices could aid discriminated-against racial groups when legal, social, and cultural structures are steeped in prejudice. Given a growing body of evidence that links health disparities to psychosocial and bio-psychosocial stressors, this article examines studies that demonstrate specific health benefits that meditative techniques provide to the African American population. Beyond the area of physical and psychological health, attention is given to meditative strategies employed by Black legal scholars and activists who are dedicated to transforming the criminal justice system through mindfulness and loving-kindness practices. Such contemplative strategies are part of "community engaged mindfulness" for lawyers, law students, and law makers, but also African Americans who struggle with systemic racism, as well as police officers who need to confront their own biases.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical populations | 2003 | Review | |
| Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects | 2007 | Review | |
| Mindfulness Interventions | 2016 | Review | |
| Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation | 2017 | Review | |
| Mindfulness and acceptance: expanding the cognitive-behavioral tradition | 2005 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 3
- Biopolitics of Techno-Mindfulness: Anthropological Reflections on the Issue of Modern App-Based Training of Focused Attention Humans October 21, 2025
- Confronting Racism with Mindfulness Mindfulness October 1, 2020
- Psychology's own mindfulness: Ellen Langer and the social politics of scientific interest in "active noticing". Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences June 3, 2019
Cites 9
- Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2003
- Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology October 27, 2008
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: Replication and Exploration of Differential Relapse Prevention Effects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 2004
- Mindfulness and acceptance: expanding the cognitive-behavioral tradition Choice Reviews Online July 1, 2005
- A Randomized, Wait-List Controlled Clinical Trial: The Effect of a Mindfulness Meditation-Based Stress Reduction Program on Mood and Symptoms of Stress in Cancer Outpatients Psychosomatic Medicine September 1, 2000
and 4 more in the library