Witnessing change: understanding change in participatory theatre practice with vulnerable youth in a Kids Company-supported primary school

Abraham, Nicola

doi:10.1080/13569783.2017.1293510

Cited by 6 publications

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References 11 publications

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“…Bystanders are involved as they encourage bullying, protect victims, or passively ignore them (Bakema, 2010;Gini, Pozzoli, Borghi, & Franzoni, 2008). Thus, participants are more than observers and actors; they make moral decisions, experiment with choices, enact a sense of agency, and vicariously experience other realities (Abraham, 2017;Edmiston, 2000;Waters et al, 2012). The performing arts provide opportunities to empathize with others in ways that are hard to manufacture, a vital point as empathy is a predictor of bystander intervention and programs that focus on this are considered effective (Jenkins & Nickerson, 2017;Thompson & Smith, 2011).…”

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Lambert¹,

Joshanloo²,

Warren³

et al. 2021

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As positive psychology expands its range of strategies to raise levels of flourishing, many interventions have been identified with new ones emerging. The positive arts offer a new avenue; one such intervention is drama and theater that can benefit subjective and social wellbeing as these offer individuals the opportunity to empathize with others, as well as consider alternative ways to act and think. These can be valuable for bullying prevention. Kuwait's "Boomerang" anti-bullying theater program designed to increase social kindness is one such example. The tools of applied theater were taught to teachers and/or school counsellors of during a six day training workshop. They in turn, trained seven to ten students who were real life bullies, victims and bystanders in their respective schools to become actors in each school’s culminating theater play. Participating acting students and audience members were assessed to determine the effects of the program on perceptions of school kindness, depression, life satisfaction, subjective wellbeing, social cohesion and trust, perceptions of school climate. Data collection was conducted across 7 private middle and high schools, with the final pre-intervention sample consisted of a total of 216 participating students and 1207 observing students (N = 1423). The quasi-experimental study shows that the intervention was successful in increasing perceptions of social cohesion and trust, a positive school climate, and student life satisfaction; however, there were no significant effects on outcome variables. This multi-school intervention improved overall school climates and shows promise in addressing bullying behaviors.

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Lambert¹,

Joshanloo²,

Warren³

et al. 2021

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“…Research-based theatre focused on art tends to use theatre as a method of uncovering and representing embodied, kinesthetic knowledge and to discuss how aesthetic performances can tap into embodied realities, ultimately emphasizing the artistic or aesthetic elements (Butler, 1988;Cavanagh, 2013;Pratt & Johnston, 2007;Swift, 2016). Research-based theatre focused on social action leans towards instrumentalizing theatre primarily as a participatory action research (PAR) tool which leads to increased awareness of social issues and leads to transformation of social realities (Abraham, 2017;Johnston & Bajrange, 2013;Jones et al, 2012). While some scholars situate themselves more predominantly in one area or the other, I argue alongside Beck, Belliveau, Lea, and Wager (2011) that there is a lot of overlap and synthesis between the two, and that these boundaries are not necessarily fixed.…”

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“It is not possible to be Dutch, and Muslim, and Black:” Second-Generation Youths’ Everyday Practices of Resisting Racism and Islamophobia in the Netherlands

Stam¹

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Xenophobia and nationalism are rising in countries across Europe and 'Western,' liberal democracies globally. Alongside anti-immigrant discourses, Islamophobia and anti-Blackness -two forms of racism -work to exclude certain bodies from full social citizenship. Taking the Netherlands as a case study, this research interrogates normative constructions of citizenship and the everyday register of belonging by investigating how second-generation Black and Muslim Dutch youth resist and subvert processes of exclusion and how they imaginatively prefigure different futures and realities.In this research, semi-structured interviews and a 14-week theatre project are both the method and the object of study in and of itself. Approaching this research with an ethics of solidarity, I use theatre to engage participants more fully in the research process and as a tool to further theorize more unconscious or intuitive practices. I specifically focus on the everyday: this micro-level of analysis reveals how marginalized Dutch youth grapple with complex yet mundane dilemmas and enact different visions for the future through seemingly ordinary and commonplace gestures and decisions. First, I look at how normative white Dutch discourses of exclusion, such as the expression doe normaal and the lexicon around 'othering,' work to foster a fragmented sense of belonging among racialized Dutch youth. Second, I examine the importance of affect and emotion as tools both in normative discourses of exclusion of mainstream white Dutch society and in coping mechanisms and visions of alternate realities of marginalized Dutch youth. Third, I analyze how the practices of everyday resistance employed by second-generation Dutch youth are mediated and tempered by pressures to iii assimilate but also how resistance, instead of being against something, prefigures alternate futures. This research calls for racialized Dutch youth, policy makers, and educators to expand the lexicon with which to engage and enhance public dialogue around racism and Islamophobia in the Netherlands. It also invites white Dutch society to sit with and practice discomfort as a way of moving beyond white innocence and other forms of privilege which shut down conversation. Finally, it contributes to understanding resistance as working in the margins of consciousness towards a third space of imagined possibilities. There are many people who have been a part of this journey and cheered me along at different stages. While there is not enough space to name everyone, I would like to recognize certain individuals and organizations that have been integral to the success of my PhD. Though I cannot mention them by name, I would like to extend my biggest thanks to all the youth who participated in this project. You generously gave your time, shared your experiences, and entrusted me with your thoughts. I am in awe of what we collectively created and the energy you brought to this undertaking. I hope you feel this dissertation does justice to what we have experienced together. This project ...

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