Abstract
Partners balance multiple concerns on a complex tightrope when it comes to knowledge and expertise. In this chapter I consider three examples to further demonstrate how power imbalances regarding knowledges are navigated, suggesting that neat distinctions between success and failure are hard to arrive at. First, with attention to my own experience working in Uganda in 2015 and research interviews undertaken with TfD practitioners since, I consider the ways in which the ‘global’ knowledge Northern partners are perceived to contribute is differently, and unevenly, regarded in contrast to the ‘local’ knowledge of Southern partners. Here, I argue from my own experience that embracing failure and dwelling on discomfort is an important strategy towards finding more equal partnerships. Second, with attention to the Stepping Stones HIV/AIDS drama-based programme, I consider how handbooks provide a starting point for practitioners to set about their work, but that these must be framed as flexible and adaptable. Finally, these concerns are brought together in an analysis of the influence of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) in Kenya. As I will show, methodologies like TO, which have become global in scope and reach, are both dominant and enabling.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Akpan, W. (2011). “Local” knowledge, “Global” Knowledge, “Development” Knowledge: Finding a New Balance in the Knowledge Power Play. South African Review of Sociology, 42(3), 116–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2011.621244
Aveling, E.-L. (2011). Mediating Between International Knowledge and Local Knowledge: The Critical Role of Local Field Officers in an HIV Prevention Intervention. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 21, 95–110.
Babbage, F. (2018). Augusto Boal. Routledge.
Bamuturaki, K. (2022). Thinking About Sustainability in Theatre for Development Projects: My Experience of How the Politics of Funding Shapes TfD Practice. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 27(4), 539–549. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2021.2012445
Bhabha, H. (1994). The Location of Culture. Routledge.
Bharucha, R. (1993). Theatre and the World: Performance and the Politics of Culture. Routledge.
Boal, A. (1995). The Rainbow of Desire: The Boal Method of Theatre and Therapy (A. Jackson, Trans.). Routledge.
Campbell, A. (2019). The Theatre of the Oppressed in Practice Today: An Introduction to the Work and Principles of Augusto Boal. Methuen Drama.
Chakrabarty, D. (2000). Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Different. Princeton University Press.
Chambers, R. (1997). Whose Reality Counts? Putting the First Last. Intermediate Technology Publications.
Chambers, R. (2014). Knowing in Development: A Radical Agenda for the Twenty-First Century. Forum for Development Studies, 41(3), 525–537.
Cornwall, A., & Gaventa, J. (2000). From Users and Choosers to Makers and Shapers: Repositioning Participation in Social Policy. IDS Bulletin, 31(4), 50–62.
Cummings, S., Kiwanuka, S., Gillman, H., & Regeer, B. (2019). The Future of Knowledge Brokering: Perspectives from a Generational Framework of Knowledge Management for International Development. Information Development, 35(5), 781–794. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266666918800174
de Renzio, P., & Seifert, J. (2014). South-South Cooperation and the Future of Development Assistance: Mapping Actors and Options. Third World Quarterly, 35(10), 1860–1875. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2014.971603
Embleton, L., Di Ruggiero, D., Logie, C.H., Ayuku, D. & Bratstein, P. (2020). ‘Piloting an Evidence-Based Intervention for HIV Prevention Among Street Youth in Eldoret, Kenya. International Journal of Public Health, 65, 433–443.
Dilger, H. (2012). The (Ir)Relevance of Local Knoweldge: Circuits of Medicine and Biopower in the Neoliberal Era. In J. Renn (Ed.), The Globalization of Knowledge in History (pp. 501–524). Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Foderung der Wissenschaften.
Dwyer, P. (2016). Peacebuilding Performances in the Aftermath of War: Lessons from Bougainville. In J. Hughes & H. Nicholson (Eds.), Critical Perspectives on Applied Theatre (pp. 127–149). Cambridge University Press.
Edmondson, L. (2018). Performing Trauma in Central Africa: Shadows of Empire. Indiana University Press.
Eriksson Baaz, M. (2005). The Paternalism of Partnership: A Postcolonial Reading of Identity in Development Aid. Zed Books.
Escobar, A. (1995). Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton University Press.
Escobar, A. (2018). Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds. Duke University Press.
Ganguly, S. (2010). Jana Sanskriti: Forum Theatre and Democracy in India. Routledge.
Gazquez-Iglesias, J. (2020). Global North-South Tensions in International Co-creation Projects. In C. Hovarth & J. Carpenter (Eds.), Co-creation in Theory and Practice: Exploring Creativity in the Global North and South (pp. 55–69). Bristol University Press.
Gómez-Baggethun, E. (2022). Is There a Future for Indigenous and Local Knowledge? The Journal of Peasant Studies, 49(6), 1139–1157. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2021.1926994
Gordon, G., & Welbourn, A. (2017). Guidelines for Adapting the Stepping Stones and Stepping Stones Plus Training Programme on Gender, Generation, HIV, Communication and Relationships Skills. Salamander Trust.
Goulet, L., Linds, W., Episkenew, J.-A., & Schmidt, K. (2011). Creating a Space for Decolonisation: Health through Theatre with Indigenous Youth. Native Studies Review, 20(1), 89–116.
Hickey, S., & Mohan, G. (2004). Participation: From Tyranny to Transformation? Exploring New Approaches to Participation in Development. Zed Books.
Hovarth, C., & Carpenter, J. (Eds.). (2020). Co-creation in Theory and Practice: Exploring Creativity in the Global North and South. Bristol University Press.
Johansson, O. (2011). Community Theatre and AIDS. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kamlongera, C. (2005). Theatre for Development in Africa. In O. Hemer & T. Tufte (Eds.), Media and Glocal Change: Rethinking Communication for Development (pp. 439–452). Publicaciones Cooperativas.
Kapoor, I. (2008). The Postcolonial Politics of Development. Routledge.
Khan, T., Dickson, K., & Sonderjee, M. (Eds.). (2023). White Saviorism in International Development: Theories, Practices and Lived Experiences. Daraja Press.
Koch, J. (2008). Karibuni Wananchi: Theatre for Development in Tanzania: Variations and Tendencies. Bayreuth African Studies.
Kompaoré, P. (2005). Artistic Expression and Communication for Development. Leeds African Studies Bulletin, (67) https://lucas.leeds.ac.uk/article/artistic-expression-and-communication-for-development-prosper-kompaore/
Kothari, U. (2005). Authority and Expertise: The Professionalisation of International Development and the Ordering of Dissent. Antipode, 37(3), 424–445.
Kothari, U. (2006). An Agenda for Thinking about ‘Race’ in Development. Progress in Development Studies, 6(1), 9–23.
Low, K. (2020). Applied Theatre and Sexual Health Communication: Apertures of Possibility. Palgrave.
Martel, J.-F. (2019). The Beginnings of Theatre of the Oppressed in France. In K. Howe, J. Boal, & J. Soeiro (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Theatre of the Oppressed (pp. 261–269).
Mbembe, A. (2021). Out of the Dark Night: Essays on Decolonization. Columbia University Press.
McCarthy, J. (2004). Enacting Participatory Development: Theatre-based Techniques. Earthscan.
Mehta, M., Adebayo, M., & Martin, J. (2010). The Theatre for Development Handbook. Pan Intercultural Arts.
Mignolo, W. (2012). Local Histories/Global Designs: Coloniality, Subaltern Knowledges, and Border Thinking. Princeton University Press.
Mignolo, W. (2021). The Politics of Decolonial Investigations. Duke University Press.
Murrey, A., & Daley, P. (2023). Learning Disobedience: Decolonizing Development Studies. Pluto Press.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2015). Decoloniality as the Future of Africa. History Compass, 13(10), 485–496. https://doi.org/10.1111/hic3.12264
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2018). Epistemic Freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and Decolonization. Routledge.
Odhiambo, C. J. (2005). Theatre for Development in Kenya: Interrogating the Ethics of Practice. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 10(2), 189–199.
Odhiambo, C. J. (2008). Theatre for Development in Kenya: In Search of Appropriate Procedure and Methodology. Bayreuth African Studies.
Oron, B., Sebuwufu, G., & Welbourn, A. (2014). Stepping Stones for Peace and Prosperity. Salamander Trust.
PATH. (2006). Magnet Theatre: Involving Audiences and Encouraging Change. Accessed December 22, 2023, from https://media.path.org/documents/CP_kenya_magnet_fs.pdf.
PATH. (2007). Magnet Theatre in India. https://media.path.org/documents/CP_india_mt_toolkit.pdf
Perry, J. A. (2012). A Silent Revolution: Image Theatre as a System of Decolonisation. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 17(1), 103–119.
Plastow, J. (2009). Practising for the Revolution? The Influence of August Boal in Brazil and Africa. Journal of Transatlantic Studies, 7(3), 294–303.
Plastow, J. (2021). A History of East African Theatre, Volume 2. Palgrave.
Plastow, J. (2023). Kisumu: The Radical Homeland for Kenya’s Applied Theatre Movement. Jahazi, 11(1), 40–44.
Premaratna, N., & Bleiker, R. (2016). Arts and Theatre for Peacebuilding. In O. P. Richmond, S. Pogodda, & J. Ramović (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Disciplinary and Regional Approaches to Peace (pp. 82–94). Palgrave.
Prentki, T. (2007). From Neocolonial to Postcolonial: Some Implications for the Practice of Theatre for Development. Caribbean Quarterly, 53, 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1080/00086495.2007.11672317
Prentki, T. (2015). Applied Theatre: Development. Bloomsbury Methuen.
Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America. Nepantla: Views from South, 1(3), 533–580.
Salamander Trust. (1994). The Original Stepping Stones Training Workshop. Accessed July 5, 2023, from https://vimeo.com/132070367.
Save the Children. (2001). Using Theatre for Development for Advocacy in Child Rights Programming. Save the Children.
Search for Common Ground. (2005). Participatory Theatre for Conflict Transformation Training Manual. Search for Common Ground.
Smith, B. (2017). Performing partnership: The Possibilities of Decentring the of International Practitioners in International Theatre for Development partnerships. Applied Theatre Researcher, 5(1), 37–51. https://doi.org/10.1386/atr.5.1.37_1
Smith, B., & Okuto, M. (2023). Keeping the Peace? Perspectives from Kenyan Practitioners Working in Applied Performance and Peacebuilding on Project Challenges, Funding and Support. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2023.2211932
Spivak, G.C. (1999). A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Toward a History of the Vanishing Present. Harvard University Press.
Snyder-Young, D. (2011). Rehearsals for Revolution? Theatre of the Oppressed, Dominant Discourses, and Democratic Tensions. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 16(1), 29–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2011.541600
Stourac McCreery, R. (2006). Theatre with Street Children in Senegal. In M. Etherton (Ed.), African Theatre: Youth (pp. 86–96). James Currey.
Thompson, J. (2005). Digging up Stories: Applied Theatre, Performance and War. Manchester University Press.
Thompson, J. (2012). Applied Theatre: Bewilderment and Beyond (2nd ed.). Peter Lang.
Tuhiwai Smith, L. (2021). Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. Zed Books.
Ukuma, S. T. (2020). Kwagh-Hir, performance alternatives and cultural sustainability: involve the people. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 25(4), 564–568. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2020.1791697
Warheit, E. J. (2017). Forum Theatre as Theatre for Development in East Africa. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Maryland.
Welbourn, A., Florence Kilonzo, T. J. M., & Liban, S. M. (2016). Stepping Stones and Stepping Stones Plus: A Training Package on Gender, Generation, HIV, Communication, and Relationships Skills. Practical Action Publishing.
Wickstrom, M. (2012). Performance in the Blockades of Neoliberalism: Thinking the Political Anew. Palgrave Macmillan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Smith, B. (2024). Navigating Expertise. In: Theatre and Global Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55725-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55725-5_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-55724-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-55725-5
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)