Publications
López, María Heras
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2015, ISBN: 9788449027383.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Applied theatre, Participatory methods, Sustainability learning and science
@phdthesis{HerasLopez2015,
title = {Towards new forms of learning. Exploring the potential of participatory theatre in sustainability science},
author = {Mar\'{i}a Heras L\'{o}pez},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10803/329007 https://www.tdx.cat/handle/10803/329007},
isbn = {9788449027383},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-12-01},
pages = {228},
school = {Universitat Aut\`{o}noma de Barcelona},
abstract = {In face of the challenges posed by global socio-environmental change, participatory sustainability science emerges as a strategic scientific approach linking multiple sources of knowledge with action in specific contexts to foster transitions towards sustainability. Its transformative and learning potential provides methodological opportunities for the generation of actionable knowledge, the incorporation of multiple perspectives, also from outside academia, and the integration of different values and political interests. Within this context, this doctoral dissertation presents a compilation of three research articles that address the development of novel participatory methods integrating the Arts, and more specifically, participatory theatre, to facilitate engaging, open and creative learning spaces in specific contexts of sustainability action. The Arts are well-known for their potential to transform people's consciousness by refining the senses, expanding collective imagination and establishing meaningful and emotional connections between people and their environment. Faced with the necessity of integrative tools and methods to deal with social-ecological systems' complexity, the Arts can provide insightful explorative means and combine different system's languages, connecting us to intuitive thinking and emotional and experiential insight. With these assumptions in mind, the first article reviews and assesses the potential of innovative theatre-based participatory tools and methods aimed at supporting sustainability learning and agent transformations. Such review includes experiences applying theatre-based methodologies in the academic and sustainability fields and introduces the notion of performative methods as an integrative research and learning approach. Five potential functions of performative methods were identified and a general framework provided to assess to what extent these new approaches can be of relevance in participatory sustainability science and learning. The second article grounds the discussion and explores the use of drama as a participatory method in Community-based Natural Resource Management, through an empirical experience in an indigenous community in Michoac\'{a}n, Mexico. An interactive theatrical play was created with the aim of introducing the views of young people on community forest management into community dialogue. By doing so, such action research helped open up non-conventional, aesthetically rich spaces for new ways of social interaction, diversity recognition and empathic dialogues. Finally, the third article expands the discussion by illustrating a concrete empirical application of performative methods in the field of futures thinking in education. Such research explored the potential and the limitations of a theatrical prospective exercise - performative scenarios, oriented towards supporting a learning process with young people in a Man and Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas, Mexico. Altogether, the papers in this dissertation provide both fresh theoretical reflections and empirical insights into the emerging field of Arts-based practices within sustainability science, learning and practice. By providing an analytical framework assessing the potential role of performative methods, and by giving concrete examples on how these methods can be used in practice, this dissertation has proven the suitability of such novel Arts-based practices, and in particular theatrical performance, to contribute in a transformative way, to the field of sustainability.},
keywords = {Applied theatre, Participatory methods, Sustainability learning and science},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
In face of the challenges posed by global socio-environmental change, participatory sustainability science emerges as a strategic scientific approach linking multiple sources of knowledge with action in specific contexts to foster transitions towards sustainability. Its transformative and learning potential provides methodological opportunities for the generation of actionable knowledge, the incorporation of multiple perspectives, also from outside academia, and the integration of different values and political interests. Within this context, this doctoral dissertation presents a compilation of three research articles that address the development of novel participatory methods integrating the Arts, and more specifically, participatory theatre, to facilitate engaging, open and creative learning spaces in specific contexts of sustainability action. The Arts are well-known for their potential to transform people's consciousness by refining the senses, expanding collective imagination and establishing meaningful and emotional connections between people and their environment. Faced with the necessity of integrative tools and methods to deal with social-ecological systems' complexity, the Arts can provide insightful explorative means and combine different system's languages, connecting us to intuitive thinking and emotional and experiential insight. With these assumptions in mind, the first article reviews and assesses the potential of innovative theatre-based participatory tools and methods aimed at supporting sustainability learning and agent transformations. Such review includes experiences applying theatre-based methodologies in the academic and sustainability fields and introduces the notion of performative methods as an integrative research and learning approach. Five potential functions of performative methods were identified and a general framework provided to assess to what extent these new approaches can be of relevance in participatory sustainability science and learning. The second article grounds the discussion and explores the use of drama as a participatory method in Community-based Natural Resource Management, through an empirical experience in an indigenous community in Michoacán, Mexico. An interactive theatrical play was created with the aim of introducing the views of young people on community forest management into community dialogue. By doing so, such action research helped open up non-conventional, aesthetically rich spaces for new ways of social interaction, diversity recognition and empathic dialogues. Finally, the third article expands the discussion by illustrating a concrete empirical application of performative methods in the field of futures thinking in education. Such research explored the potential and the limitations of a theatrical prospective exercise - performative scenarios, oriented towards supporting a learning process with young people in a Man and Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas, Mexico. Altogether, the papers in this dissertation provide both fresh theoretical reflections and empirical insights into the emerging field of Arts-based practices within sustainability science, learning and practice. By providing an analytical framework assessing the potential role of performative methods, and by giving concrete examples on how these methods can be used in practice, this dissertation has proven the suitability of such novel Arts-based practices, and in particular theatrical performance, to contribute in a transformative way, to the field of sustainability.
AGAUR Grant ID 2017 SGR 230 / Copyright © 2023