Voices : drama and the development of speaking and acting in public spaces

Evans, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9877-157X, Pacievich, Caroline, Donadel, Marcia and Sant Obiols, Edda ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7907-5907 (2022) Voices : drama and the development of speaking and acting in public spaces. In: International Perspectives in Drama and Citizenship Education : Acting Globally. Routledge Research in Education . Routledge, pp. 141-150. ISBN 9780367524876 (hardback); 9781003058144 (ebook)

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Abstract

This chapter raises questions on the role of ‘voice’ pedagogies through engagement with the work of Freire, Butler, Boal and Lessac. The chapter begins by interrogating different ways in which ‘voice’ have been conceptualized within citizenship education. This leads to a consideration of the theoretical and practical synchronicities of ‘voice’ and ‘performance’ including the question, can citizenship education approach speaking/acting in public spaces as a performative practice? Contrasting examples from Chile and Brazil, the chapter then briefly examines the pedagogical relationship between speaking/listening to question how can discussions about drama education help us to build equal dialogues. Performance is then first reconceptualised as ‘voice’ in terms of a physical and abstract presence within socio-political discourses that allows an inclusive realignment to the practise of participation itself through dramaturgical methods. The chapter concludes rereading voices in relation to Boal’s ideas of a sensitive and symbolic thinking, and questioning how, through “voice work” social and ideological forces in our bodily manifestation can be explored, identified, and contextualized.