Abstract
This article discusses a Practice as Research project, the design and implementation of a Futures Literacy Lab in which tools derived from the arsenal of the Theatre of the Oppressed were applied. The lab involved asylum-seeking unaccompanied minors, and took place in the island of Lesvos, Greece in July, 2019. Applied theatre practices often deal with communities and individuals in a transformational manner, which is, by definition, future-oriented. In this respect, the work undertaken served as a first case study for potential interdisciplinary collaboration between Performance Studies and Futures studies. This exercise is not without its ethical implications, though. This paper will discuss some of the challenges, pitfalls and successes of this process.
References
Appadurai, A. (2013). The Future as Cultural Fact: Essays on the Global Condition. London: Verso.
Bell, W. (1997). Foundations of futures studies: human science for a new era, volume 1: history, purposes, and knowledge, volume 2: values, objectivity, and the good society. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
Boal, A. (1979). Theater of the oppressed. London: Pluto Press.
Boal, A. (2002) Games of Actors and Non-actors. (2nd ed) London: Routledge.
Boal, A. (1995). The rainbow of desire: The Boal method of theatre and therapy. London: Routledge.
Brecht, B., & Willett, J. (1978). Brecht on theatre: the development of an aesthetic. London: Hill and Wang.
Candy, S. (2010). The Futures of Everyday Life. University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Candy, S., and Dunagan, J. (2016) ‘Designing an experiential scenario: The People Who Vanished’. in: Futures, 86. (pp. 136-153) Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2016.05.006)
Candy, S., and Dunagan, J. (2017) ‘The Experiential Turn’. Available from: https://apf.org/2017/02/member-post-the-experiential-turn-by-stuart-candy-and-jake-dunagan/
Carlson, M. (2003) The Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Damhof, L. (2018). Futures Literacy Centres: The Challenges of Teaching Futures Literacy. Unpublished manuscript, UNESCO Futures Literacy Programme, Paris.
de Certeau (1986) Heterologies: discourse on the other. Available at: https://archive.org/stream/HeterologiesDiscourseOnTheOther/Heterologies%20Discourse%20on%20the%20other_djvu.txt
Godet, M. (1994). From anticipation to action: A handbook of strategic prospective. Paris: UNESCO.
Groves, C. (2017). Emptying the future: On the environmental politics of anticipation. Futures, 92, 29-38.
Head, S. (2010). Forward Theatre: Futures Studies in Drama (Unpublished mphil thesis). University of Queensland, Australia.
Inayatullah, S. (2013). Future studies: Theories and methods. In F. G. Junquera (Ed.), There’s a future: Visions for a better world (pp. 36–66). Madrid: BBVA.
Jeffers, A. (2012). Refugees, Theatre and Crisis: Performing Global Identities. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kahane, A. (2012). Transformative scenario planning: Working together to change the future. Oakland, California: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Miller, R. (2015). Learning the future, and complexity. An essay on the emergence of futures literacy. European Journal of Education, 50(4), 513–523.
Miller, R. (2018). Sensing and Making-Sense of Futures Literacy: Towards a Futures Literacy Framework (FLF). In R. Miller (Ed.), Transforming the Future: Anticipation in The 21st Century. London: Routledge. (pp.15-47 )
Milojevic, I. (2002) Futures of Education: Feminist and post-Western critiques and visions. Ph.D.thesis, School of Education, University of Queensland.
Mitra, R. (2017) ‘Akram Khan on the politics of choreographing touch’. In: Butterworth, J., and Wildschut, L. (Eds.) Contemporary Choreography : A Critical Reader (2nd edition). London: Routledge. (pp. 385-397)
Prendergast, M. and Saxton, J. (eds) (2009) Applied Theatre: International Case Studies and Challenges for Practice. Bristol: Intellect.
Read, A. (1995) Theatre and Everyday Life: an Ethics of Performance. London: Routledge.
Rideout, N. (2009) Theatre & Ethics. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Slaughter, R. A. (1996[a]). Futures Studies: From Individual to Social Capacity. Futures, 28 (1), 751-762. 10.1016/0016-3287(96)00009-2.
Slaughter, R. A. (Ed.). (1996[b]). The Knowledge Base of Futures Studies. Hawthorn: DDM Media Group
UNESCO (2019) ‘Futures Literacy: A Skill for the 21st Century’. Available at: https://en.unesco.org/themes/futures-literacy
Wiles, D, (2014) Theatre & Time. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2019 Pedro de Senna