On the Intersection of Spirituality and Social Identity: A Study of the Lived Experience of 10 Baha'i Women

Here is an abstract of an article that studies the lives of 10 Baha'i women from the following scholarly journal:

Journal of Transformative Education, Vol. 4, No. 1, 27-42 (2006)DOI: 10.1177/1541344605283090© 2006 SAGE Publications

I Am a Human Being, and I Belong to the World:
Narrating the Intersection of Spirituality and Social Identity


Siew Sim Chin
Northern Illinois University

This article explores the relationship between spirituality and learning to cultivate a social identity that is global in its outlook. It considers the lived experiences of 10 women from the Baha'i Faith talking about their search for an inclusive worldview and about how they (re)constructed a broader identity through the teachings of their religion and developed the capacity to be border crossers across cultures and places. Although issues and concerns of identity constitute a major area of deliberation in the field of adult education for social change, less discernible in the discourse is the link between spirituality and the (re)construction of social identity. The narratives of these Baha'i women offer some grounded approaches to address the topic of spirituality that is framed not in the language of religious epiphanies or practices but as social transformative learning.

Key Words: spirituality • transformative learning • imagination • citizenship

Siew-Sim Chin is currently a doctoral student in the Northern Illinois University Department of Adult and Continuing Education. Her interests are in the areas of feminist pedagogy, learning in social context, the global civil society and spirituality in adult education.