Cultivating Experienced Belonging in Higher Education: Collective Art-Making & Sounding
Publication information:
Abstract
Although ‘belonging’ is frequently framed as something institutions of higher education provide through policies and stated values, our students and faculty may still not experience an authentic sense of personal belonging on campus. A lack of a sense of belonging impedes genuine and original spiritual inquiry as members of the community struggle to engage, take intellectual risks, and live authentically. Exploring examples from collective embodied arts practices and drawing upon Participatory Action Research methodologies and preliminary results from a faculty/student psychology study on soundbaths, we will speculate about how regular collective artistic practice might encourage simultaneous experiences of connection to both self and community.
Presenter Biographies
Canadian-American scholar-performer, director, commissioner, museum director and educator Anne Dorothy Harley has taught interdisciplinary humanities and applied voice at Scripps College since 2009. She leads projects that unite faculty, students, and visiting scholars in creating music, premiering and recording the works for www.voicesofthepearl.org. In 2023-24, she was Scholar-in-Residence at CSWR.
Ava Neal is a junior at Scripps College studying psychology and philosophy. She has been leading community soundbaths since September 2024, and brings a background of Buddhist and interfaith spirituality and songmaking.
Talia Mickelson is a sophomore at Scripps College, majoring in psychology on a pre-health track. She has been assisting in the research of sound bath studies at Scripps since Spring of 2026 and has a background in communal music-making in various choirs.