Vocal Empowerment Curriculum for young Maya Guatemalan women

Osnes, Beth; Hackett, Chelsea; Lewon, Jen Walentas; Baján, Norma; Brennan, Christine

doi:10.1080/19443927.2019.1637371

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…In their qualitative analyses, they also noted that participants were louder, spoke with more clarity, and had a reduced number of pauses, interrupted speech, and stammering. Importantly, they had a greater belief that their voice is important and may effectively contribute to their local and public communities [1]. In this study the first author adapted the SPEAK Curriculum for Egyptian participants.…”

Section: Theatre-based Vocal Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Young women who have an increased understanding and awareness of their voices, have an increased ability to positively impact their self-advocacy to express themselves, and contribute to their communities [1]. A young woman's voice quality has been linked to her sense of identity, perceived dominance, and personality, and has been an integral focus within women empowerment initiatives [2,3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The program used in this study is an adaptation of the SPEAK Vocal Empowerment Curriculum, initially developed by Osnes and Hackett in partnership with Guatemalan non-profit, Starfish: MAIA Impact, a Guatemalan all-girls school serving Indigenous youth [1]. Vocal empowerment is a person's ability to comfortably express their intended content, with a clear audible voice.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is the belief that "what you say is worthwhile, your voice belongs to you, and that you have the right for self-authorship" [5]. The curriculum used in this study has previously been proven to enable young women to achieve a greater sense of self-authorship, ownership of their voices, and confidence in their bodies through the practice of applied theatre [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Very few studies have directly examined such vocal empowerment programs and their effect on women's vocal and language characteristics [1]. To our best knowledge, no studies have documented measurable outcomes of applied theatre for young women's vocal empowerment in Egypt.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of theatre-based vocal empowerment on young Egyptian women’s vocal and language characteristics

2021

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This study investigates the impact of a theatre-based vocal empowerment program on the vocal and language characteristics and the self-perceptions of young bilingual Egyptian women. The program used applied theatre, a dramatic practice that promotes civic action by utilizing improvisational techniques to engage participants in exploring solutions to self-identified community concerns. These techniques supported participants’ pursuit of vocal empowerment: the ability to comfortably express their intended content with a clear audible voice, accompanied by the belief that what they had to say was worthwhile. The program was implemented in Alexandria and Aswan, two Egyptian cities in different regions of the country, with distinct socio-economic profiles. Thirty-six young women from Aswan and nineteen from Alexandria participated. The program was facilitated in Arabic, for 90 minutes per day over twelve consecutive days in 2018. Participants in both groups spoke Arabic as a home language and studied English in school settings but differed in their educational experiences and English proficiency. The vocal and language characteristics of each participant were tested in Arabic and English pre- and post- program using a spontaneous speech task and a reading aloud task. Their self-perceptions were evaluated through a vocal self-perception survey. Results indicated that participants responded differently in each city. In Alexandria, participants showed significant improvement in language skills (e.g., mean length of utterance). In contrast, participants in Aswan showed a significant change in fundamental frequency. Overall, the self-surveys indicated that all participants experienced an increased sense of confidence, a stronger belief in self-authorship, and an increased desire to voice their opinions clearly in public; however, there were subtle differences between the groups. In analyzing these results, we conclude that to design effective vocal empowerment outreach programs internationally, it is necessary to consider participants’ cultural backgrounds, language diversity, and socio-economic status.

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Section: Theatre-based Vocal Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%