Voicing ambiguities in theIlizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlabaco-creator collective

Abstract

This article considers youth co-production in the context of Global Challenges Research funded project, Changing the Story. The participatory project conceives of 'voice' as research data, turn of phrase, and character by engaging with the work produced by South African co-creator collective Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba, who contribute to voicing issues related to land, stewardship and futures. Developing Linda Tuhiwai Smith's five dimensions of decolonial theorisation, the article considers 'voice' as a complex and dynamic formulation including regimes of power: funding, legacies of dispossession and ongoing marginalisation and highlighting the achievements of young people's formulation of the stories of their world.

Can Theatre Be Used in Environmental Governance? The View of Environmental Professionals in Mexico

“…Viability was explored in terms of resources such as time and training necessary to implement performance arts-based methods in projects that emphasise the virtues of receptivity, patience, and open-endedness, in opposition to cheap and quick approaches that foster participation just in rhetorical form (Chambers, 1994;Turnhout et al, 2020). Cultural relevance focused on the importance, in environmental governance projects, of understanding local contexts; adapting the methods to respect and embrace different groups of people based on their abilities, language, and traditions (Turnhout et al, 2020;Walsh and Burnett, 2021b). Credibility was explored as the possibilities and challenges of implementing performance arts-based methods in environmental governance and their framing of knowledge(s) as non-linguistic, emotional, and tacit (O'Connor and Anderson, 2020).…”

“…Following this flexibility for incorporating a diversity of methods and epistemologies, arts-based methods have been advocated to overcome some of the conventional participatory methods' challenges. These are methods in which arts play a primary role (Coemans et al, 2015), and often combine a social-constructivist and interpretative understanding of knowledge(s) and power dynamics (Heras and Tàbara, 2014;Walsh and Burnett, 2021b).…”

“…They are theatrical activities that centre on conflict and require participation to reflect on delicate issues and unveil power dynamics which can be otherwise difficult to question (Boal, 2013;Heras and Tàbara, 2014;Olvera-Hernández et al, 2022;Sullivan et al, 2008). Their potential resides in the opportunity to foster active engagement and critical reflection and to explore and implement new encounters with the world (meaning-making) (Anumudu, 2018;Somers, 2002;Walsh and Burnett, 2021b).…”

Forum Theatre as a mechanism to explore representation of local people's values in environmental governance: A case of study from Chiapas, Mexico

“…Against this backdrop, arts-based approaches, defined as approaches in which arts play a primary role (Leavy, 2020), may offer opportunities for addressing some of these challenges, by combining a more social-constructivist and interpretative understanding of knowledges (Heras & Tàbara, 2014;Walsh & Burnett, 2021).…”

“…Against this backdrop, arts‐based approaches, defined as approaches in which arts play a primary role (Leavy, 2020), may offer opportunities for addressing some of these challenges, by combining a more social‐constructivist and interpretative understanding of knowledges (Heras & Tàbara, 2014; Walsh & Burnett, 2021). By using arts‐based methods, it is argued, participants can take control of their own participation by using different skills including verbal and non‐verbal communication (Leavy, 2020), allowing them to communicate beyond the limits of fixed identities and official discourses (Kester, 2005).…”