SLIDE 1 Using theatre to explore critical understandings
S
S VRI Forum 2017 Alice Clarfelt PhD Candidat e: Universit y of Cape Town
SLIDE 2
SLIDE 3
Guiding concepts.
Peer education. Gender and social identities. Participatory action research. Critical consciousness
“ conscientização” (Friere, 1973).
Theatre of the Oppressed (Boal,
1973).
SLIDE 4 Theatre of the Oppressed.
A ‘ rehearsal for revolution’ (Boal,
1979)
TOO includes different techniques
and special improvisations that turn “ the practice of theatre into an effective tool for the comprehension
- f social and personal problems and
the search for their solutions.” (Boal, 1995).
SLIDE 5
Methods.
11 peer educators, 18-35, isiXhosa
speaking, socially and economically disadvantaged.
Male, female, and non-conforming
gender identities. Diverse sexuality.
TOO workshops. ‘ Image Theatre’ and
‘ Forum Theatre’ .
Narrative interviews.
SLIDE 6
Image Theatre
SLIDE 7
Forum Theatre.
.
SLIDE 8
Forum Theatre.
.
SLIDE 9
Findings
Performing and analyzing oppression. The spaces in-between: Dialogue and
inter-subj ectivity.
Breaking down power relations,
building participation.
Critical reflection and new learning,
leading to… .
…
Motivation to educate others.
SLIDE 10 Critical reflection, transformative experience.
“ I learnt t hat ingcenezelo (oppression) is
not good anymore, t o any human being, because I’ ve learnt a lot about how t o do ingcenezelo t o a human being. S
it might be t hat t he t hings I have commit t ed bef ore, you see, t hat was an incgenezelo t o my f riends, and t o my f amily
- members. S
- , I st art ed recognizing, ‘ oh I’ ve
learnt a lot about t his now.’ The t hings I have learnt about ingcenezleo, you never know t hat I’ ve commit t ed it , you j ust keep commit ing it .” (Male, peer educat or).
SLIDE 11 Emotional identification and critical realisation.
“ I find t hat somewhere somehow it is inadequat e
t o speak wit h words, maybe we must t ry t o get t hem t o act . I have not ed t hat t he first day I became emot ional because t here was t his t hing t hat was happening here – I did not know t hat t his t hing was happening t o me – but when I was act ing I realized t hat t his t hing happened t o me
- ne t ime. When someone is t elling you, you don’t
underst and it . Y
- u see it as somet hing far away.
But when your mind and your body is doing t his, it is when you realize t here are issues. This t hing we can t ake it somet ime and act ing it somewhere.” (Female, peer educat or).
SLIDE 12 Conclusion and implications.
Theatre of the oppressed is a
powerful method for exploring young people’s knowledge-creation around gender identities.
Implications for peer education and
- ther gender transformative youth
programmes that seek to build agentic, gender equitable and non- violent social identities.
