Gloria E. Anzaldua’s theory of spiritual activism shares significant similarities with the work of influential engaged Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh. However, neither feminist scholars who engage with theories of spirituality nor engaged Buddhist scholars are drawing connections between their work. While disciplinary categories have prevented us, scholar-activists, from placing these theories of social transformation in conversation with one another until now, I insist that feminist scholars, as well as engaged Buddhist scholars can no longer ignore this crucial relationship. Placing Anzaldua’s theory of spiritual activism in dialogue with Nhat Hanh’s philosophy of engaged Buddhism provides alternative ways to read and understand these philosophies and, at the same time, offer scholars and activists a more global and radical political context to ground both their theoretical framework and activist practice. Furthermore, I argue that exploring these theories side-by-side provides an entryway for engaged Buddhism to enter feminist dialogue, and at the same time helps scholar-activists to see engaged Buddhism as a feminist epistemology with implications for practice. In this project, I explore pedagogy, specifically, as one site in which to apply this dialogue and in so doing, develop a new theory and practice I term “spiritualized feminist pedagogy.”
