Who knows? Youth work and the mise-en-scene: reframing pedagogies of youth participation

Abstract

Drawing on the PARTISPACE research (www.partispace.eu) and particularly on findings from three of eight European cities included into the study, this article asks how bringing to the surface the dramatic and theatrical practices underlying the metaphor of performance might contribute to a better understanding of youth participation. It considers the spaces, temporalities, actors and audiences, and atmospheres of youth participation projects. Youth workers and young people in these space/times can be seen as actors in the drama of participation; cast in their roles and caught up in power play, both small scale) and sometimes on a larger political stage, as in the context of the UK referendum on membership of the European Union. The micropolitics of group inclusions and exclusions which are pushed beyond the boundary in Youth Council spaces take centre stage in the drama of the Youth Club. Attention to ambivalence in the work of youth workers leads to a discussion of the needs of such pedagogues.

Re-conceptualising ‘mise en scène’ for online dramatherapy

“…Mise en scène has been utilised as a concept for other practices such as youth work (Batsleer et al, 2021) and mental health judiciary work (Bernheim, 2012). Bleeker (2020) considers mise en scène in terms of post-human thinking and contemporary performance art.…”