Conjuring the Desert: Risk and Reflection in the Classroom (Event Flyer)

Presented by:
Doug Burton-Christie, Ph.D.
Theology Department, Loyola Marymount University

Rubén Martinez, Ph.D.
English Department, Loyola Marymount University

ECHO Recording of Presentation
Into the Desert Handout 1
Into the Desert Handout 2
Into the Desert Handout 3

How do we open up a space for reflection with our students that helps them to do their best, most thoughtful work; to risk engaging themselves and the material of the course as fully and courageously as possible? What does that space look like, feel like? How do you enter it? How does it affect your thinking, your sense of self, your relationship to the world around you? These questions among others, have formed a central part of a team-taught course on the desert taught by Ruben Martinez (English) and Douglas Burton-Christie (Theological Studies). Students are invited to enter the desert--imaginatively (through sustained engagement with the politically and culturally charged borderlands of the American Southwest and with the contemplative traditions of the ancient Egyptian monks) and concretely (through an extended trip to the Mojave)--and to think about how entering the space of the desert can help them engage the most serious questions of their lives with greater openness and honesty. It is in this sense that the contemplative work of the course opens out onto and informs fundamental questions of ethical engagement and practice, something that connects our work with the core mission of LMU.

Lunch will be included, please RSVP to teachers@lmu.edu or (310) 338-5866.

This presentation is part of Vandana Thadani's Faculty Associate project on Student Engagement and Reflective Learning.

This program will be video and audio taped and may be podcast. By your willing participation in the program, you expressly and irrevocably consent to be photographed, videotaped and/or audio taped and quoted/cited. The films, tapes, and other digital recordings will become the property of the Center of Teaching Excellence, LMU.