MEPEACE Chat - February 14

In our current three chat workshop series we are exploring Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding Education. Each chat session focuses on a related sub-topic.


We invite you to join us for our fifth MEPEACE Chat Workshop and the second chat in this new series. Our topic will be: Social Theatre as a tool for Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding Education.

In our last discussion we touched upon social theatre as one form of art for conflict resolution education. This week we will explore it in more detail.

Social theatre is an interactive performance. It is about building relationships, and reshaping separate narratives into a shared story about who we are and where we are going as a larger community and culture. It can be an opportunity to work through situations of oppression and suffering in a safe environment, and to jointly re-think and re-tell (in a new way) the past, present and future history of the cultures and communities involved. Below are several other descriptions of social theatre:


“Social Theatre works as a trigger for increasing tolerance, developing active citizenship amongst young people and promoting non-discriminative attitudes and behaviours. Social theatre is a powerful non-formal learning method in which participants engage directly with each other and work together with a view to finding solutions to achieving social cohesion and mutual understanding.” (Definition taken from a 2009 proposal for a social theater project in Romania – see links below)

“Social theatre can be a tool to understand the real problems of society and try to find an effective solution for them.” (Quoted from a Masters thesis titled “Theatre as an Agent of Social Change,” by Maria del Tarrus Chinchilla – see link below)


We invite you to consider these and other views in the links below, and to join us in answering the following questions:

In what ways can social theatre trigger social change and effective conflict resolution?

Can social theatre reflect the individual and the society in which it operates?


Below are links to examples of social theatre projects and research on the topic. If possible, please view them before the next chat:

Social Theatre (Romania)

http://create2009.europa.eu/fileadmin/Content/Downloads/PDF/Projects/National_projects/RO_Social_Theatre.pdf

“Theatre as an Agent of Social Change” by Maria del Tarrus Chinchilla

http://www.euroculturemaster.org/pdf/Maria%20del%20Mar%20Tarrus.pdf

Theatre-in-education in Jordan

http://www.araburban.org/ChildCity/Papers/English/LinaAttel.pdf

Freedom Theater (Drama Therapy)

http://www.youtube.com/user/thefreedomtheatre#p/a/23528330B134E57B/1/jJJx0Sr5I_Y

"No Child is Born a Terrorist" (Freedom Theater, Jenin documentary)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7Bf-aKrLx4

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Please note that the event will start on Sunday, 14 February 2010 at 20.00 Jerusalem time.

If you have any questions regarding the event, please don't hesitate us to contact us on mepeace.dialogue@gmail.com.


We look forward to your participation on February 14th!

The MEPEACE.org Dialogue Team
Cigdem Yilmazer, Jessica de Souza, Johanna Silverthorne & Oliver Haack

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