Theatre of the Oppressed as a methodological tool for research and intervention of violence against women

• Grant number: 11/21446-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: March 26, 2012
• End date: September 25, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Social Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Maria de Fátima Araújo
• Grantee: Érika Cecília Soares Oliveira
• Supervisor: Luísa Saavedra
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidade do Minho (UMinho), Portugal
• Associated to the scholarship: 10/08017-1 - Violence against women and theatre of the Oppressed, BP.DR

Abstract

This project is proposed to deepen the analysis and discussion about the information already raised in PhD research in progress in Brazil that used the Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) to promote discussions on violence against women. It has as objective, among other issues, reflect on the use of the theatre of the oppressed as a research and intervention tool located at the interface of psychology with the called feminist methodologies and also to evaluate the potential of TO as an emancipative and alternative device to work with various questions of community, disrupting hegemonic discourses and practices within the field of the psi knowledge and practices. The Theatre of the Oppressed is used here in the Forum Theatre modality by submitting a theatrical skit played for different groups of women and men in some cities of São Paulo. The skit titled "Hold My Heart" (Segura meu coração), mounted and played out by the researcher with non-actors and non-actresses' group, was used to promote discussion and mobilize the audience's participation. The Forum Theatre assumes that the audience turns into an audience-actor/actress and, through the action, go up on stage and try to find strategies for the staged conflict. The purpose of this is to prepare them to what Boal calls "model for future action," making them participate actively in the show. The interventions with the audience constitute the empirical material to be analyzed according to the theoretical and methodological approach. (AU)