Theatre of the oppressed: linking research, political commitment and pedagogical perspectives

AutorAlessandro Tolomelli
CargoDoutor em Qualidade da Educação pela Faculdade de Educação da Universidade de Florença, Italia
Páginas43-60
http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1807-1384.2016v13n3p43
R. Inter. Interdisc. INTERthesis, Florianópolis, v.13, n.3, p.43-60 Set.- Dez. 2016
THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED: LINKING RESEARCH, POLITICAL
COMMITMENT AND PEDAGOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
1.
Alessandro Tolomelli2
Abstract:
The intellectual path of Augusto Boal ran parallel with his own life. “A path made by
walking”, we can say using Machado’s words. In my personal experience, working as
an educator I discovered the necessity of a pedagogical framework to sustain the
practice; thinking as educationalist I realized the importance of the political meanings
of education; acting as a Theatre of the Oppressed professional I understood the
importance of keeping links between theory and praxis, personal and academic
research. To summarize, in this paper I try to connect some points between
pedagogy, politics and research using the method of the Theatre of the Oppressed
as a framework. The first part described the reasons of my interest in the Pedagogy
of the Oppressed (P. Freire) and then on the Theatre of the Oppressed (A. Boal).
Later on, the focus is on the meaning of the words ‘theatre’ and ‘oppression’ to
explain the aims and the roots of the Theatre of the Oppressed. At the end of the
paper the project is presented: “TOgether”, a European research-action path aimed
at constructing a curriculum for the Theatre of the Oppressed trainer as well as
experimenting with the aesthetic potential of the method.
Keywords: Pedagogy. Education. Theatre of the Oppressed. Augusto Boal. Paulo
Freire.
1 INTRODUCTION. BIOGRAFICAL REASONS FOR ENGAGED RESEARCH
My first approach with the Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire dates
back about 25 years to when I was a young university student and social educator in
my home city of Bologna. At that time, I was looking for pedagogical approaches that
would help me to establish my educational commitment in an ethical, utopian and
political direction. In fact, my belief was, and still is, that to be involved in educational
challenges goes beyond the taking care of or transmitting socially acceptable content
1 This paper has been elaborated starting from the talk made by the author within the International
Conference “Connessioni decoloniali. Pratiche che ricreano convivenza”, 19th-21st Ma y 2016,
University of Verona, Italy.
2 Doutor em Qualidade da Educação pela Faculdade de Educaç ão da Universidade de Florença,
Itália. Pós- Doutorado pel a Universidade de Bolonha , Itália . Pesquisador em Pedagogia no
Departamento de Ciências da Educação "Gi ovanni Maria Bertin" e da Faculdade de Educação
Ciências-Universidade de Bolonha. Professor Adjunto de Pedagogia Social na Universidade de
Bolonha, Itália E-mail: alessandro.tolomelli@unibo.it
44
R. Inter. Interdisc. INTERthesis, Florianópolis, v.13, n.3, p.43-60 Se t.-Dez. 2016
and behaviour to the pupils, and that the educational effort was to be interpreted as a
search for new and original existential trajectories for the subjects and the political
prospect of changing society.
For me was clear the importance of the connection between personal
experiences and the research process in the fiel d of education. Education, politics
and social research are fields that are closely related to one another.
In my personal experience, working as an educator I discovered the necessity
of a pedagogical framework to sustain the practice; thinking as educationalist I
realized the importance of the political meanings of education; acting as a Theatre of
the Oppressed professional I understood the importance of keeping links between
theory and praxis, personal and academic research.
The fact that Paulo Freire was awarded with an Honorary Doctorate in
Education from the University of Bologna (23rd January 1989) and the fact that for
this reason his thinking was well-known and studied in my University, facilitated this
meeting.
Thanks to this connection, I discovered an approach that interprets the
educational practice as "care of the polis" and therefore as an eminently political
practice.
In the lectio magistralis that Freire held at the University of Bologna on this
occasion, he affirmed that the deep value of education lies not just in the utility that it
has or should have for the young, but in the hope for change that pedagogical activity
keeps alive for humankind as a whole.
Therefore, Freire’s thought has the main value of emphasizing the meaning of
utopia linked to education especially in contemporary society (cf. GADOTTI, 1995). In
fact, the present crisis is not only economically addressed but is also a crisis of the
dominant ideology, which is often hidden behind false myths of freedom and which is
as pervasive and conditioning as the Twentieth Century ideologies, and at the same
time is not balanced by alternative models.
According with Freirean perspective, the educational process is a constant
“silent revolution”, in which the oppressed give shape (form) to their own critical
approach to current realities in order to be able to anticipate domination (cf.
BELLANOVA, 1978).

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