RESEARCH ACTS: USING THE DRAMA WORKSHOP AS A SITE FOR CONDUCTING PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH

Abstract

In this article I discuss the drama workshop as a site for conducting participatory action research in a project in which students and teachers workshop together to envisage and enact the social practices that they believe would improve the quality of school life for students and teachers. Anti-naturalistic dramatic conventions are used to investigate the issues, to shift the frames of thought through which problems are understood and to deepen insight into the discourses influencing behaviour. The methodology outlined here is particularly relevant to those seeking to involve youth in transformative projects addressing social, environmental or political well-being.