Who am I? Who can tell me who I am? The Importance of the Social and Political in Children¿s and Young People¿s Drama
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2023Access:
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Carmel O'Sullivan, David Davis and Susanne Colleary, Who am I? Who can tell me who I am? The Importance of the Social and Political in Children¿s and Young People¿s Drama, Vol 3, No. 1, Trinity College Dublin, Custodian, 2023, 1 - 199Download Item:
Abstract:
‘Who Am I? Who can tell me who I am?’ is an international panoramic of voices, all of whom are
speaking from within their praxis contexts, that is the social and the political in the personal when working
with children and young people, through drama and theatre in education. Each contributor illuminates how
they are working within the socio-political contexts as it resonates and influences the personal experiences
of their participants. This collection emerged from a conference of the same name, which took place at
Trinity College Dublin in March 2019. The conference was organised by the Arts Education Research Group
in the School of Education, in association with ADEI (the Association for Drama in Education in Ireland).
As organisers, we took great pleasure in inviting participants from across the globe to attend this once
in a lifetime event, centred as it was on celebrating the life and contribution of David Davis to the field of
Drama and Theatre in Education. The conference was an opportunity for many of David’s former students,
collaborators, friends, and colleagues, to appreciate anew his passion and drive for drama in education.
It was also a chance to celebrate David’s lifetime contribution to a field whose work has never been so
necessary as it is now, at a precipice of deepening social, political, and environmental uncertainties across
the face of the world. For many too, who had encountered David’s thinking and practice only through his
writing, this was an unmissable event, to experience for the first time the depth of his convictions and the
passion and commitment he brings to his teaching and drama facilitation.
It was unsurprising then that the conference brought together a rich array of voices from around the globe
and from different traditions and perspectives in drama and theatre in education. We gathered to discuss
the central theme of the conference, that of the importance of the social and political in children’s and
young people’s drama to ask, ‘Who am I? Who can tell me who I am?’
The conference became that rare thing, a useful sharing of ideas and practices across national and
international borders; a celebration of the common ground amongst us, and an opportunity to discuss the
challenges we face now and for the future, where hope is still at hand. And as can happen from sharing,
from those illuminations, from the commonality and differences of experience, there emerged a holistic
and organic latticework of praxis voices. Strong and fragile simultaneously, that latticework, underpins
this collection. At its heart, David’s original and ground-breaking ideas on drama and theatre in education
threads through all chapters here, the stitches well-wrought from a lifetime’s labour, they strengthen and
protect. Always challenging, often controversial, David’s work not only enriches our field, but his ideas also
remain with us for much longer than the immediate impact of the event. This book was always going to be
written.
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/carosullhttp://people.tcd.ie/okeeffl3
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PUBLISHEDTrinity College Dublin
Author: O'Sullivan, Carmel; O'Keeffe, Lisa
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Creative Arts Practice , Identities in Transformation , Drama in Education , EDUCATIONEdition:
Vol 3, No. 1Metadata
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