Episode 4.8: Mindful Approaches to Ecopolitics
In this powerful and personal episode, host Peter Andrée is joined by Dr. Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel (University of Victoria, Cherokee Nation) and Dr. James Rowe (University of Victoria, author of Radical Mindfulness) to explore how mindfulness, ceremony, and heart-centred practices offer resources for witnessing and metabolizing the emotional grief associated with environmental and social injustice.
Together, they discuss how inner awareness, land-based ritual, and work with psychedelic medicine can support healing and resilience in the face of climate anxiety, ecological grief, and systemic injustice. Drawing on Indigenous teachings, contemplative practice, and personal experience, this episode invites listeners to reflect on what it means to walk with feeling in ecopolitical spaces—and how relational and embodied approaches can help us build a more grounded, compassionate politics in the Anthropocene.
Host
Peter Andrée
Professor, Department of Political Science, Carleton University
Guest
Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel
Professor, Indigenous Studies at the University of Victoria
Guest
James K. Rowe
Associate Professor, Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria
Additional Pedagogical Resources
Guest Bios
Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel
Dr. Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel is a writer, teacher and father from the Cherokee Nation. As Professor in Indigenous Studies at the University of Victoria, his research and teaching interests focus on “Everyday Acts of Resurgence” and the intersections between Indigenous internationalisms, resurgence, climate change, gender, and community well-being. Jeff situates his work at the grassroots with many Indigenous led community-based programs and initiatives ranging from local food movement initiatives, land-based renewal projects to gendered colonial violence and protection of homelands. He is currently completing work for his forthcoming book on Sustainable Self-Determination, which examines Indigenous climate justice, food security, and gender-based resurgence.
James K. Rowe
Dr. James K. Rowe is associate professor of environmental studies at the University of Victoria and the author of Radical Mindfulness: Why Transforming Fear of Death is Politically Vital (Routledge 2023)