
It provides insights into how oppression affects individuals and describes the individual's journey to emancipation. This study is possibly the first to research coaching as an emancipatory approach. Then, a cooperative inquiry was conducted with twelve coaches from Egypt, who used the model with 22 coachees, leading to the development of a theoretical and practical framework for the use of coaching to support the emancipation and development of individuals. Building on a cross-disciplinary review of emancipatory approaches, an initial coaching model was developed. This paper summarises a study that examined the use of coaching as an emancipatory approach, and explored how oppression affects coachees, coaches and the coaching process. While coaching is establishing itself as an effective human development approach, there is limited understanding of the dynamics of coaching in the context of oppression. Therefore it requires cross-sectorial institutionalization to thrive. For Legislative Theatre to intervene successfully in law making it must empower citizenry to work with listening government. “Plays that make Policy” counter hegemonic forces using the performing arts. I conclude that Legislative Theatre is an innovative think tank methodology that potentially balances expert knowledge and experiential knowledge in respectful partnership. This thesis searches for how Legislative Theatre could be useful within the public education system, First Nations and Canadian state/settler relationships and negotiations, within municipal government, community-based organizations, and grassroots social justice initiatives. Utilizing a distinctly Anishinabe research methodology, I reflect upon my own practice as a Theatre of the Oppressed Joker from an Indigenous epistemological perspective. It leaves you with a gift so you can try it for yourself.Īnswering Augusto Boal’s call for further explorations of Legislative Theatre, this thesis asks how Canadian Legislative projects have contributed to our understanding of “theatre as politics” over and above the original Rio mandate. It invites others to prove or disprove this. It suggests that happy people do not commit genocide (and other atrocities), because when we use empathy, we learn to value life and actively work to counteract violence. It argues that art has helped people practice happiness, peacefulness, and empathy. It finds that art has helped inspire people to perceive the problem and enact solutions. It studies how people's relationships with art have influenced their process of conscientization. It doubts itself and implies that others should prove or disprove it. It continues by offering solutions: transforming the problem by approaching media and education as art. Next, it emphasizes that systems such as mass media and mass schooling have conditioned us into thinking that the problem doesn't exist. Then, it details visible evidence and provides historical evidence to support that the problem exists. It begins by articulating the problem of an invisible culture of violence. This research project examines how the process of Artistic Activation (conscientization through Art), can help expose invisible systems of oppression and empower us to take action for Peace. This research culminates in the design of a workshop model that could be enacted as a future Participatory Action Research Project, that employs variations of the techniques, and some workshop processes drawn from other fields. Employing the systems theory concept of ‘holons’ (Koestler, 1969), I imagine ways to re-invent the techniques of Theatre of the Oppressed to make them more effective tools for addressing climate change. Following Donella Meadows’ work on leverage points in complex systems (1999), I propose the idea of ‘paradigm shift’ as the ultimate goal of Theatre of the Oppressed work on climate change. I look to systems theory as a theoretical tool to guide this transformation, and deep ecology as a compatible supplementary perspective.


Employing a comparative review of the literature on Theatre of the Oppressed and autoethnographic reflections of my own experience as a practitioner, I consider the limitations of the techniques in addressing climate change, and how they might need to further transform to address climate change effectively. Theatre of the Oppressed was created by Augusto Boal (1931-2009) under the dictatorships of South America in the 1960s, and has changed and transformed as it has traversed continents, cultures and decades. This research examines the potential of one body of techniques, the Theatre of the Oppressed, to support the struggle for a safer climate. Climate change is perhaps the greatest threat to peace and justice in our time, and possibly to our species’ very survival. Those who use theatre techniques to bring about social change often make bold assertions of their efficacy.
