Theatre of the Oppressed and Educational Activities in Civil Society

Spring term 2022 – 1. 4. – 10. 4. 2022

The course can be realised only in off-line form.

Dana Moree and guests

This module will further develop some activities already started by the Faculty of Humanities (at Charles University), by placing them in an international context and bringing them closer to citizenship education in schools. We will make use of the concept of the 'theatre of the oppressed' (Boalo, 1992), as well as previous research from the field of education and transformation of society after the fall of communism (Moree, 2008, 2013). We will elaborate them further in the directions mentioned below.

In particular, the course will reflect on citizenship education in the light of societal changes over the last twenty years. We will focus on several aspects of this topic:

1) We will analyze the extent to which education and civil society is linked to the societal context with a special focus on the transformation from communism to a more open system. An important aspect of this part of the module will be the co-operation between civil society and schools (Kymlicka, 2001; Parker, 2007).

2) We will analyze particular cases where civil society and NGOs help schools with citizenship education. We will analyze concrete examples of several projects or disciplines like multicultural education, history and citizenship education, school parliaments, etc. This part of the course will be based on an interdisciplinary approach (Anthias, 2011; Banks, 2004; Moree, 2008; Osler & Starkey, 2010).

3) We will analyze empowerment and oppression as part of citizenship education. The 'theatre of the oppressed' will be the main method of this part of the module.

From a practical perspective, we will combine several teaching and learning methods in this module. Literature analyses and presentations will be combined with interactive learning, dialogical learning, field visits and reflections.

We will cooperate with a wide range of schools and civil society organizations in the Czech Republic, viz. Network of Inclusive Schools, Slovo 21, Antikomplex, Centre for Citizenship Education and ARA ART.

Students will produce a final paper where they will choose to elaborate and reflect on one of their experiences from the field (excursion or theatre of the oppressed) in the light of theories which they studied in the first (theoretical) part of the module.

Results of module development will be replicated at a national conference where people from NGOs, schools and the academic sector will work together.

Syllabus

The course will be organized in one bloc in the period according to epidemiological situation. The main line would be theatre of the oppressed, where we will elaborate topics linked to experiences of students with participation and engagement. Then based on these experiences we will have also other parts of the program, which would be more oriented on excursions, reading and meeting other people from NGOs.

Theatre of the oppressed – daily from 11.00 am till 17.00 pm

Reading and preparation – individual work every morning

Excursions – Twice a week

Topics except of theater of the oppressed:

Education system and civil society in the Czech Republic

- Transformation of Czech society and educational reforms

- Cross-curricula themes and NGOs

Citizenship Education

- History, recent developments and practice

- Human rights and education in post-totalitarian society

- Human rights and education in regions with open conflicts

History and its reflection

- Narratives of unjust and modern history in schools

- Activities of NGOs in the field

Active citizenship and activities initiated in schools by NGOs

- Participation in schools

- Schools Parliaments

- One World festival at schools

NGO activities in the field of education

- Different NGO projects (Pragulic, Antikomplex, Slovo 21, Centre for Citizenship Education and ARA ART)

- Field trips

- Field observations

- Presentations

Duties for the students:

Active participation in the contact teaching activities

Final paper - reflection of one activity of the course from the perspective of theoretical concepts, which were introduced (minimum 5 references)

Presentation of one NGO project and its reflection from the theoretical perspective.

References

Anthias, F. (2011). Intersections and Translocations: new paradigms for thinking about cultural diversity and social identities. European Educational Research Journal, 10, 204 – 216.

Banks, James (2004). Diversity and Citizenship Education; Global Perspectives. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Boal, Augusto. (1979). The Theatre of the Oppressed. New York: Urizen Books. Republished by Routledge Press in New York/London in 1982.

Boal, Augusto. (1992). Games for Actors and Non-Actors. New York: Routledge Press.

Boal Augusto (1995). The Rainbow of Desire. London: Routledge.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and Education. USA: KappaDelta PI

Freire, Paul. (1974). Education: The Practice of Freedom. Santiago (Chile). Institute for Agricultural Reform. ISBN 0 904613 16 X.

Kymlicka W. (2001). Politics in Vernacular; Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Citizenship. Oxford University Press.

Moree, D. (2013). Učitelé na vlnách transformace; kultura školy před rokem 1989 a po něm. Praha: Karolinum.

Moree, D. (2008). How Teachers Cope with Social and Educational Transformation; Struggling with Multicultural Education in the Czech Classroom. Benešov: Eman.

Moree, D. (2016). Leaving a Trail – Sense of Life nd Women´s Activism. Communio Viatorum, LVIII, 1, 94 – 116.

Moree, D., Vávrová, T. & Felcmanová, A. (2017). Blue or red, why do categories attract? Urban Review.

Oser, F., K. & Veugelers, W. (eds). Getting Involved; Global Citizenship Development and Sources of Moral Values. Sense Publisher: Rotterdam.

Osler, Audrey. & Starkey Hugh. 2010. Teachers and human rights education. London: Threntam Books. ISBN 1853464066.

Parker, W., C. (2007). Imagining a cosmopolitan curriculum. A working paper developed for the Washington state Council for the Social Studies. Seatle: University of Washington.