Aim and Scope

The idea for the journal arises from Race and Yoga Working Group, founded in 2011. With this group, we were looking to bring together our yoga practices and scholarly work in critical ethnic studies. As scholars and women of color who practice and teach yoga, we have experienced and/or witnessed alienation based on race, gender, class, sexuality, ability, and age, assumptions about our bodies and/or cultural (mis)appropriation. We also felt that we were not alone in these observations. While many yoga teachers, including ourselves, are committed to creating inclusive environments for their students, there is currently a dearth of research that addresses yoga with awareness of structural oppressions and their intersections. Mainstream publications and teacher trainings frequently do not examine these issues, and in our opinion, often perpetuate exclusive ideas in the yoga community.