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A Methodology Rooted in Praxis: Theatre of theOppressed (TO) Techniques Employed as Arts-BasedEducational Research MethodsChristina MarínPublished online: 08 Jul 2010.

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A Methodology Rooted in Praxis: Theatre of the Oppressed (TO)

Techniques Employed as Arts-Based Educational Research Methods

Christina Marin

ECHOING THE DREAMERS

In the introduction to her book Massacre of the Dreamers: Essays on Xican- isma, Ana Castillo elaborates on the idea of "labeling" in a way that underlines the direction I set out from when I conducted the qualitative research for my dissertation, "Brealung Down Barriers, Building Dreams: Using Theatre for Social Change to Explore the Concept of Identity with Latina Adolescents." Castillo explains that "a crucial distinction between labels we have been given by officials of the state and our own self-naming process is that only doing the latter serves us. The very act of self-definition is a rejection of colonization" (12). Castillo's "Acknowledgments" section in this particular text also gave me reason to pause and consider my own positioning as a Ph.D. student and a woman of color in the academy. You could say her words ignited a flame in me to pursue what I saw as a path she and other scholars had paved. She writes:

Because scholarship by U.S. people of color has often been questioned by white academia, I would like to add the following regarding the process by which I received my Ph.D. My dissertation project, by my own insis- tance [sic], was unorthodox. That is, it crossed boundaries of cultural criti- cism, social sciences and creative literature. Moreover, it directed itself to the subject of its thesis rather than to the academy. However, it is to the great credit of those scholars on my defense committee that such an ambi- tious and unprecedented work was accepted and conferred the doctorate in Germany. It is also significant to point out that a woman of color with a reputation for writing on themes that largely concern her perspective as a second class citizen in the United States, was not given the same invita- tion to submit such work for scholarly review in the United States (ix).

I quote Castillo at length here, not to emphasize that my circumstances mir- rored hers, but to illustrate the legacy I follow within the academy. I count myself fortunate to have footsteps in which to follow, and role models to refer-

Christina Marin is an Assistant Professor in the Program of Educational Theatre at New York University. This article is based on her award-winning dissertation (AERA Distin- guished Dissertation Award), which received research support from the American Asso- ciation of University Women, The American Alliance for Theatre and Education, The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and The Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

YOUTH THEATRE JOURNAL volume 21.2007

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ence as I acknowledge my own committee, and their commitment to supporting my work, as untraditional as the methodology and reporting may have been. In this article, I hope to continue breaking down academic barriers by highlighting how Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) techniques were employed during the data collection stages, as well as in the final written report of my dissertation. I will illustrate how this arts-based methodology can have an empowering effect when combined with Castillo's claims regarding the naming of the self, based in the Freirean concept of a literacy of the world, and critical pedagogy.

When I approached the initial stage of proposing my study, I made numerous claims that I wanted to "deviate from the norm" and not conform to the white- male dominated construction of the traditional dissertation. At one point, I believe, I even suggested that a simple haiku should be an acceptable form for the dissertation I wanted to write. After all, my sister had written one when she was in the fourth grade that seemed to be a comprehensive expression of the concept of snow.' Why should I not experiment with innovative forms of data collection and reporting? If this "final assignment" was to indicate my potential for contributing to the literature of my chosen field, educational and commu- nity-based theatre, I was determined to push the boundaries of traditional quali- tative research methods.

In the opening to the dissertation, which I refer to as "The Invitation," I explain how my goals for the project included giving voice to the young people involved in the case study conducted under the aegis of a behavioral health and prevention agency in Phoenix, Arizona. I chose the term "Invitation" in place of the more traditional "Introduction" because I hoped to convey the collaborative nature of the research involved. From my perspective, as a qualitative researcher, I believe research does not end with the final written product. Even now you, as a reader, are shaping the reality of this article through your own perception of its content. Although it is impossible to recapture the spontaneity of the rehearsals and performances in my dissertation or in this article I hope that the arts-based narrative employed gives the reader the sense of sharing in the process rather than merely describing the context.

Teatro Movimiento Ollin: Una Fuerza Lateen@ (TeMO) is a theatre collec- tive sponsored by Valle del Sol, Inc. Sixteen members of the group participated in the study over the course of one year. Through the use of Image Theatre, Forum Theatre, and Living Newspaper Theatre, the youth explored how social institutions such as schools, mass media, and popular culture represent and per- petuate negative stereotypes of Latinas.

The theoretical framework of the study synthesizes the concepts of social con- structionism with a contextual perspective to highlight how the youth "read the world" as a result of their interaction with other people in various social, educa- tional, and cultural settings. Utilizing a feminist epistemological lens, I privilege the voices of the young women in the group to give them the opportunity to por- tray a more positive reflection of their own development of personal identity.

The genre of theatre we employed in the bilingual youth theatre group for this study is rooted in the work of Augusto Boa1 and his Theatre of the Oppressed techniques. A harbinger of the community-based work described by Philip Taylor, the methods are drawn from

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. . . a theatre that is not simply a presentational medium that occurs within a conventional mainstream theatre house. This is a theatre that is taken out into nontheatrical settings, community centres, parks and streets, prison and rehabilitation venues, therapy and health care sites, housing projects, support service settings, and other locations for the purpose of helping the audience, or the participants, grapple with an issue, event, or question of immediate public and personal concern (xx).

The focus of this study became the use of theatre to grapple with the multilay- ered complexities of identity construction.

SETTING THE STAGE FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

One of the first questions I ask ate en@' participants who attend different conferences and workshops I facilitate is, "What does society expect from you over the next ten years?" Invariably they respond with dismal perceptions, "They believe we are going to be in gangs and end up in jail," or "They think we'll all get pregnant." Other options revealed are drug dealers, junkies, dropouts, or the worst-case scenario: dead. My follow-up to this interrogation is, "Where do you see yourselves ten years from now?" This response takes a little longer for many of them to formulate. It is as if no one has ever asked them this question before. Using Paulo Freire and Donaldo Macedo's expanded framework of the term literacy, I believe that young people often lack an essen- tial level of input in the way others perceive them. In the introduction to Freire and Macedo's book, Literacy: Reading the Word and the World, Henry Giroux points out:

Within this perspective, literacy is not approached as merely a technical skill to be acquired, but as a necessary foundation for cultural action for freedom, a central aspect of what it means to be a self and socially consti- tuted agent. Most importantly, literacy for Freire is inherently a political project in which men and women assert their right and responsibility not only to read, understand, and transform their own experiences, but also reconstitute their relationship with the wider society (7).

It was time to encourage these young people to build their dreams without wor- rying about the limited expectations society had prescribed for them. They could be the authors of their own futures and learn how to rewrite their stories.

The rewriting of their personal narratives began with the first step of "re-labeling" themselves. The act of reclaiming language can be empowering, especially when young people have been told to choose from among the "official labels" used to describe their people. Words like Hispanic, Latinola, Chicanola, Mexican, Mexican-American, are socially constructed and offer little in the way of self-expression. Augusto Boa1 claims that "[nlaming signifies the effort to irnmobolise. The name is the fixing, in time and space, of that which is fluid, that which actually cannot stop or be stopped in time or space" (Aesthetics 13). According to Ann Berthoff:

Language also assures the power of envisagement: because we can name the world and thus hold it in mind, we can reflect on its meaning and

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imagine a changed world. Language is the means to a critical conscious- ness, which, in turn, is the means of conceiving of change and of making choices to bring about further transformations. Thus, naming the world transforms reality from "things" in the present moment to activities in response to situations, processes, to becoming. . . . Liberation comes only when people reclaim their language and, with it, the power of envisage- ment, the imagination of a different world to be brought into being (xv).

In re-naming themselves Lateenos the young people began a process that was transformative, a process they participated in from a regenerative point of view, not a reactionary defense mechanism.

And so, the members of the bilingual youth theatre group, Teatro Movimiento Ollin: Una Fuerza Lateen@, set out to reclaim their narratives through examining how TO techniques could help them navigate through the layers of preconceived notions held by a society that seemed to expect very lit- tle from them. Throughout the course of the study we used Image Theatre, Forum Theatre and Living Newspaper Theatre, (Boa1 Theatre, Games, Rainbow, Aesthetics) to explore the concept of identity through a lens that priv- ileged the experiences of the young people themselves. In an effort to encour- age a dialogical experience through theatre, we explored the terms critical ped- agogy and praxis as I had come to understand them through my literature review. I do not claim to be an authoritative figure when it comes to Freirean pedagogy, but I do claim to be a practitioner who aspires to perpetuate an ongo- ing dialogue in which we, as educators, continually redefine these terms for ourselves and with the populations we work in. As Macedo points out:

Unfortunately, in the United States, many educators who claim to be Freirean in their pedagogical orientation mistakenly transform Freire's notion of dialogue into a method, thus losing sight of the fact that the fun- damental goal of dialogical teaching is to create a process of learning and knowing that invariably involves theorizing about the experiences shared in the dialogue process (17).

Rather than focus on the dialogue as a method for understanding what devel- oped through the theatrical exercises we employed, I placed an emphasis on the art form itself as a qualitative means of arts-based educational research. This "learning and knowing that invariably involves theorizing about the experiences shared in the dialogue process" (17) became the cornerstone on which we built the foundation of the study. As I conclude in the Abstract of the dissertation, by creating an environment for emancipatory pedagogy, the study opened up a space for the participants to critically reflect on their own perceptions of how society portrays Lateenos as a subculture. Through praxis, a symbiotic rela- tionship between theory and action, the young people involved in this study have awakened in themselves a critical consciousness, described by educational theorist Paulo Freire as essential for social change. My fieldwork became an exercise in problem-posing education as described by Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed where "people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transforma-

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tion" (83). I invited the young people involved in the study to "rename" them- selves and rewrite their narratives in an attempt to illustrate that theirs did not need to be an existence described by others; they could proactively define their own identity. This empowering reclamation was manifested through the various theatre techniques employed during the study. For our purposes, we defined praxis as a symbiotic relationship between theory and practice, allowing us to reflect on the theatre exercises we engaged in while informing the analysis of the data collected in the process.

IN THE BEGINNING

I was interested in using TO as a framework for my dissertation research because I perceived a powerful potential in the combination of Freire's peda- gogical theories and Boal's theatre techniques. In my review of the literature I came across Barone and Eisner's section on arts-based educational research in a publication from the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and began to draw parallels between the practical applications of theatre and research. I was facilitating a Forum Theatre scene in a workshop at the 2003 Lideres Summit, the National Council of La Raza's (NCLR) annual conference for Latin@ youth to develop their potential as future leader^.^ As one of the spect-actors incorporated hmself into the original scene, replacing the victim who was being oppressed by the antagonist, it occurred to me that the impro- vised dialogue emerging naturally from the young man's response to what he had seen onstage could be considered "qualitative data." He didn't have to explain the choices he made in an interview about the scene, after the fact, and I didn't have to probe with follow up questions to dig deeper into his response; I combined my role as the Joker and my role as the researcher and began to uncover a new methodology through which to gather qualitative descriptions of young people's experiences.

In the interest of providing some clarification for readers who may be new to Boal's vocabulary, and to illustrate how I use certain terms in the context of the dissertation, I turn to Mady Schutzman and Jan Cohen-Cruz for assistance in defining the term spect-actor, and to Bhbara Santos for an explanation of the role of the Joker in Boalian practices. Schutzman and Cohen-Cruz explain:

Boal's vision is embodied in dramatic techniques that activate passive spectators to become spect-actors-engaged participants rehearsing strategies for personal and social change. Although founded in theatrical exploration, the techniques, all based on transitive learning and collective empowerment, are not limited to the stage; educators, political activists, therapists, and social workers devoted to critical thought and action have adapted the work to address issues ranging from racism and sexism to loneliness and political impotence. (1)

I also use their description of Boal's Forum Theatre as a genre "that [gives] spectators themselves opportunity to discover their own solutions to their col- lective problems" (2) to illustrate how TO, and the scenes we develop using these techniques, can reveal pertinent information about the experiences of the participants involved in this form of qualitative arts-based research.

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BArbara Santos describes the character of the Joker as

. . . an artist with pedagogic and political functions who helps people to understand themselves better, express their ideas and emotions, analyze their problems and seek their own alternatives to change or solve them. The joker doesn't need to have answers but should be able to formulate questions that stimulate the suggestion of alternatives to each question presented during a Forum Theatre play (227).

Reflecting further on the techniques and methods that make up Augusto Boal's arsenal of Theatre of the Oppressed I recognized that Image Theatre could also be used as a tool to collect data. In its rawest form, without words, an image created by participants in a TO session is intended to communicate, through corporeal expression, what verballspoken language might confound. I am reminded of Boal's claim in The Rainbow of Desire that "the interdiction of words is necessary to enable all the participants to really see the image. Image is a language; if it is translated into words, all its possible interpretations are reduced to a single one: the polysemy of the image is destroyed. But it is pre- cisely in this polysemy that the richness of this language resides" (77).

At this point I think it would be helpful to provide the reader with a descrip- tion of how image theatre techniques can be facilitated with participants and then transformed into qualitative data.4 During the 2002 workshop, I asked the youth to construct images based on the negative stereotypes they encountered in their communities across the country. In groups of five or six, they sculpted themselves in ways to create a visual language conveying power structures, limited access, oppression and, in some extreme cases, situations culminating in death. Next, I asked each group to share their work with the rest of the partic- ipants to motivate dialogue. Bod describes the benefits of Image Theatre:

We can use various techniques, with or without speech, immobile or dynamic - in short, we can make theatre out of, and thus speak of things felt or experienced, without resort to words. Best of all: in deciding of our own free will not to resort to words, in doing Theatre of the Oppressed, we are making theatre, we are making art, since art is an aesthetic lan- guage, a language of the senses (Rainbow 86).

In their discussion about the powerful images created, the youth reflected on these negative situations that are all too common in our communities.

Following this discussion, the groups were asked to reconvene in order to construct a new set of sculptures. I reiterated the title of the workshop and asked, "Can you change the image you see?' I encouraged them to resculpt the images they had formed to reflect a world in which they were able to produc- tively combat the oppressive structures portrayed in their stationary scenes. I then asked them to add the element of dynarnisation to these sculptures, giving groups a slow count of five to physically transform their bodies in slow motion from the original image of oppression to the second image of the changed world. On the reverse count of five they slowly morphed their bodies back into the original image. The groups were then given several more minutes to take themselves repeatedly through these dynamic transitions.

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Finally, we set up a gallery in which half of the scenes were portrayed in their slow motion transformations, continually moving from the original to the revolutionized images, while the other half of the participants walked around the sculptures observing these different metamorphoses. After the second half of the group performed their images, we revisited the dialogue addressing how we could become agents for positive social change.

In terms of data collection we can view this example in two ways. The visual images created by the youth can be considered "raw data" and are viable tools for the researcher to analyze the responses offered. A second method of data collection involves the verbal responses of other participants who view each sculpture in turn. These dialogues can be collected through an audio or video format (provided permission has been obtained from the proper Institutional Review Board) and transcribed. The researcher can then code and analyze these verbal responses in the context of the qualitative research. The researcher can also employ probing questions, in role as the Joker, during the facilitation of the workshop.

As a result of the study I conducted, it is my opinion that this methodology effectively combines the artistic elements of theatre techniques with the rigor of qualitative research methods to provide a safe space in which participants involved can offer their responses in a creative form and feel more comfortable participating in educational research. The participants respond as if they are participating in an interactive theatre workshop, not like they are being exam- ined under a microscope.

RESEARCH REPORTING THAT COMES TO LIFE

Tom Barone and Elliot Eisner suggest that "more written discourse about arts-based educational research currently exists than do actual examples of it" (79). Responding to this research call to arms, I chose to employ artistic meth- ods of reporting throughout the process of writing up my analysis in the disser- tation. These writing samples also employ the techniques developed by Augusto Boa1 in the arsenal of the Theatre of the Oppressed. The following is an example based on the written format of the "anti-modeY5 scene used to acti- vate and incite spect-actors to replace the protagonist and present strategies for breaking down oppressive structures.

CLOSING HOPE'S DOOR

The two characters involved in this Forum Theatre anti-model scene are Esperanza and Mr. LePorte. Esperanza is a senior in high school with aspira- tions of attending the local state university. Her parents brought her to the United States when she was an infant, crossing the Mexic0N.S. border by pay- ing a coyote [smuggler] to get them across without going through the legal channels of immigration. Mr. LePorte is a teacher at Esperanza's school. He has always been supportive of Esperanza's educational development in the past.

Esperanza's goal in the scene is to have Mr. LePorte write a letter of rec- ommendation for her application to college.

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Mr. LePorte does not want to get in trouble by helping an undocumented student access higher education. He has always played by the rules and believes that those rules are in place to protect the rights of the citizens of the United States.

[Esperanza approaches Mr. LePorte's desk during a free period. He is grading tests.]

ESPERANZA

Hi, Mr. LePorte. Do you have a minute?

MR. LEPORTE

Sure, Esperanza, what can I do for you?

ESPERANZA

I wanted to give this to you early so you would have time to look over it.

[She hands the recommendation form to Mr LePorte.]

MR. LEPORTE

And what is this?

ESPERANZA

It is the form for a letter of recommendation to State. The application form says that I should ask a teacher or administrator from my school who is knowl- edgeable about my academic development and who has guided me as a mentor. I think you fit the bill. Would you be willing to write the letter for me?

MR. LEPORTE

I don't think I understand, Esperanza. Did you apply for legal status in this country? I thought you didn't have papers?

ESPERANZA

No, I don't. But I know a lot of kids who go to State who are undocu- mented. I have worked very hard to maintain good grades and I want to con- tinue my education even further.

[The JOKER enters the scene, shouts "Stop!" and the actors freeze. The JOKER asks the audience a few questions.]

JOKER

Does this scene look familiar? Has a teacher or administrator ever asked you, or someone you know, this question? I'm not going to ask anyone here to raise their hand if they do not have papers, don't worry. We are not here to take power away from anyone, but to give power to people who may not always feel comfortable enough to stand up for themselves in a situation like this one. Can anyone tell me who the victim is in this scene? [The JOKER solicits a few responses from the audience.] We are going to call Esperanza the protagonist. So if Esperanza is the one faced with the problem, who is

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ARTS-BASED EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH METHODS 89

the agent of oppression? Or are there multiple agents in this case? Some that we might not even be able to see? [The JOKER solicits a few responses from the audience.] Let's go back and see what else happens in this scene between Esperanza and Mr. LePorte.

MR. LEPORTE

I don't think I understand, Esperanza. Did you apply for legal status in this country? I thought you didn't have papers?

ESPERANZA

No, I don't. But I know a lot of kids who go to State who are undocu- mented. I have worked very hard to maintain good grades and I want to con- tinue my education even further.

MR. LEPORTE

I'm sorry, Esperanza, I really am, but I cannot write a letter of recommen- dation for someone who is not a legal citizen in this country.

ESPERANZA

I don't understand. You have always supported me, Mr. LePorte. This is my opportunity to study and become someone important. I thought you wanted to help me fulfill my dreams.

MR. LEPORTE

Well, of course I want to help you. But, Esperanza, you need to have more realistic dreams. There are plenty of jobs that a girl like you can get without ever having to go to college.

ESPERANZA

But I want to study medicine and become a doctor. I want to be able to help people, and also do research.

MR. LEPORTE

Well, if you want to do something like that you are just going to have to go back to your own country. I'm sure you can get into a good college there.

ES PERANZA

Go back to Mexico? But ever since I started school here in the United States I have been told not to speak Spanish here at school, and now my Spanish isn't good enough to attend college in Mexico.

MR. LEPORTE

Well, I guess your parents should have thought about that when they ille- gally crossed the border with you as a baby. You people never think of the consequences. All you think about is taking jobs away from American citi- zens, people who are here legally and have the right to employment. Now, I am sorry Esperanza, but I cannot write that letter for you. I would be doing my country a disservice by helping you get into college. There is simply

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nothing I can do about it. If you'll excuse me, I have to finish grading these tests before fifth period. [MK LePorte hands the paperwork back to Esperanza and the JOKER shouts, "Stop!"]

JOKER

Is there anyone here who thinks they can help Esperanza? What we are going to do is replay this scene from the beginning. If anyone here thinks they can come up with a solution, a strategy, to change Mr. LePorte's mind, we would like to invite you to shout out, "Stop!," just like you have heard me do several times, and then come up and replace Esperanza in the scene. Mr. LePorte will continue to play himself, but now you will be playing Esper- anza in the scene, to try out a different approach. Does anyone have any questions before we begin again? Remember, just shout "Stop!," and the actors will freeze right where they are. Let's begin.

[The Joker facilitates the Forum as spect-actors come forward to replace the protagonist. After a number of solutions have been presented, the Joker can facilitate a dialogue among the group regarding issues of immigration and education.]

This "anti-model" scene was developed from the transcriptions of group work and other TO exercises employed during our examination of the topic immigra- tion, which formed the backbone of chapter six of my dissertation, "Immigration: Whose Side are You on Anyway?" My intentions in using these different artistic, qualitative techniques throughout my dissertation study were twofold. First, I hoped to expose a broader audience in the educational research community to a novel format for presenting the analysis and interpretation of qualitative data. Second, I wanted to provide the young people in Teatro Movimiento Ollin: Una Fuerza Lateen@ an opportunity to participate in and contribute to an exercise in community-engaged theatre through an institution of higher education to give them a taste of what it might be like to continue their education past high school, and even on beyond college. This second goal led us deeper into the arsenal of TO through our exploration of Living Newspaper Theatre.

FROM PAGE TO STAGE

During our work on the project, a news article came out in The Arizona Republic that provided us with material to explore how the media portrays issues of immigration and education and how it can come to pass that an indi- vidual seeking a better life in a new country can end up at the mercy of the legal ~ys t em.~ The story helped us call into question what we were all willing to do for our own education. According to the article, a graduate of Arizona State University has been charged with fraudulently obtaining federal student aid by falsifying a birth certificate and claiming United States citizenship. The accused could face up to eight years and $500,000 in fines.

We used Newspaper heat re' to unpack issues affecting the broader Latino community. Through this genre the participants employed their individual inter- pretations and personal perspectives in order to "read the world" through

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numerous formats of popular culture and media, including song lyrics, maga- zine images and articles, movies, and Internet sites. In the case of the newspa- per article mentioned above, the participants began to develop a theatrical rep- resentation of their negotiation with the story. Combining their knowledge of Image Theatre with several of the techniques outlined by Boa1 in his writings, the members of TeMO "performed" their reading of an unjust world that cre- ates barriers for immigrants, like themselves, who are affected by education policies. For the purposes of this particular exercise the participants employed:

Complementary reading: data and information generally omitted by the newspapers of the ruling classes are added to the news.

Rhythmical reading: as a musical commentary, the news is read to the rhythm of the samba, tango, Gregorian chant, etc., so that the rhythm functions as a critical "filter" of the news, revealing its true content, which is obscured in the newspaper.

Parallel action: the actors mime parallel actions while the news is read, showing the context in which the reported event really occurred; one hears the news and sees something else that complements it visually.

Text out of context: the news is presented out of the context in which it was published; for example, an actor gives the speech about austerity previously delivered by the Minister of Economics while he devours an enormous dinner: the real truth behind the minister's words becomes demystified-he wants austerity for the people but not for himself (Bod Theatre, 143).

These methods were selected by the participants from the full list provided by Bod, in order to enhance their "performance" of the article.

Another important aspect of the work we developed together was that, as stakeholders in the research, the participants always maintained an active voice in the decision making process. Although I outlined the options and taught them the various techniques, in the end they were the ones who shaped the proj- ect by their level of interest of one form over another.

I believe Newspaper Theatre has a built in research quality to it. The partici- pants used the newspaper as source material to navigate through current events and the theatre techniques to further develop their own understanding of the issues. They also actively expressed their own doubts, fears, frustrations, and con- cerns about their futures; these issues are their realities in more ways than one.

CONCLUSION

According to Phil Carspecken,

Research as praxis means both personal growth and social commitment. The pursuit of truth in social science cannot be followed without becom- ing open to wounding, without caring about those who are impoverished and oppressed. It will be painful at times, but it will develop and empower those who follow it with integrity (171).

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92 Christina Marin

By engaging in arts-based educational research with the members of TeMO, I hoped to open up a space in which the youth were able to formulate their own perspectives regarding how society views them and, subsequently, how they wanted to portray themselves in the future. I believe in theatre as a tool to edu- cate, liberate, and activate social change. By alleviating the rigid formality of the sterile research setting, I offered the participants the opportunity to express themselves through theatre activities. These activities helped the students relax and gave them a chance to react naturally to what might have been more awk- ward research probes if we had engaged in a traditional focus group or inter- view format. A t times the topics we addressed were quite personal; theatre offered the participants a safe environment in which to express themselves and examine how they felt about these issues.

I hope to engage other groups in similar work, using theatre as a qualitative research methodology. It is my conviction that we are at a stage in the field of educational and community-based theatre work when we have unlimited poten- tial to explore the possibilities of successfully combining theatre and research in artistic and creative ways.

NOTES 'Snow is quite quiet. Almost like a tiny mouse. Snow is smooth and soft. (P. Marin, 1977) 21 first found the term, Latin@, in the book Latinos: Remaking America, edited by

Marcelo M. Suirez-Orozco and Mariela M. Piez. Ana Celia Zentella is the author of the chapter "Latin@ Language and Identities." The addition of the "teen" portion of the word came from the youth in the bilingual youth theatre program I directed during the study. The term Lateen@ incorporates the concept of age in English, through the letters "teen," while in Spanish the acceptance of both young men and women in the group is indicated through the combination of the "a" and "0" in the symbol @. Giving these young people the power to decide what to call themselves was an important first step to encourage their critical reflection regarding the issue of language.

3A year earlier I had presented my first conference workshop at the 2002 Lideres Summit in Miami Beach, Florida: "Can You Change the Image You See? Using Augusto Boal's Image Theatre to Create a Dialogue Among Latino Youth Regarding Issues of Identity." It was there that I became interested in using these techniques with Latin@ adolescents, and incidentally, where I developed my penchant for really long titles.

4See also the first chapter of my dissertation, "A View from the Summit: Our Praxi- cal Experience" (17- 19).

' ~ n Games for Actors and Non-Actors Augusto Boa1 admits, "Perhaps the term 'model' already contains the connotation of path to follow. I have no hesitation in repeating that a piece of Forum Theatre must always present doubt and not certainty, must always be an anti-model and not a model. An anti-model to debate and not a model to follow" (232).

6For full text of the article see "ASU Grad Charged in Fraud." (The Arizona Republic, August 10, 2004). I also include the article in an appendix of the dissertation.

'For a detailed explanation of the conventions of Newspaper Theatre see Boal's works, Theatre of the Oppressed (1985) and The Aesthetics of the Oppressed (2006).

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ARTS-BASED EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH METHODS 93

WORKS CITED

Barone, Tom, and Elliot Eisner. "Arts-Based Educational Research." Complementary Methods for Research in Education. Ed. Richard M. Jaeger. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: AERA, 1997.73-94.

Berthoff, Ann. "Foreword." Freire and Macedo xi-xxiii. Boal, Augusto. Games for Actors and Non-Actors. 2nd ed. Trans. Adrian Jackson. New

York: Routledge, 2002. . The Aesthetics of the Oppressed. Trans. Adrian Jackson. London: Routledge,

2006. . Theatre of the Oppressed. Trans. Charles A. & Maria-Odilia Leal McBride.

New York: TCG, 1985. . The Rainbow of Desire: The Boal Method of Theatre and Therapy. Trans.

Adrian Jackson. London: Routledge, 1995. Carspecken, Phil Francis. Critical Ethnography in Educational Research: A Theoretical

and Practical Guide. New York: Routledge, 1996. Castillo, Ana. Massacre of the Dreamers: Essays on Xicanisma. New York: Plume,

1995. Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Trans. Myra Bergman Rarnos. 30th Anniver-

sary ed. New York: Continuum, 2000. Freire, Paulo and Donaldo Macedo. Literacy: Reading the Word and the World. West-

port, CT: Bergin, 1987. Giroux, Henry A. "Introduction." Freire and Macedo 1-27. Macedo, Donaldo. "Introduction." Freire 11 -27. Marin, Christina. "Breaking Down Barriers, Building Dreams: Using Theatre for Social

Change to Explore the Concept of Identity with Latina Adolescents." Diss. Arizona State U, 2005.

Santos, Bkbara. "Theater of the Oppressed and Community Cultural Development." Community Culture and Globalization. Don Adams and Arlene Goldbard, eds. New York: Rockefeller, 2002.

Schutzman, Mady and Jan Cohen-Cruz, eds. Playing Boal: Theatre Therapy, Activism. London: Routledge, 1994.

Taylor, Philip. Applied Theatre: Creating Transformative Encounters in the Community. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003.

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Youth Theatre Journal The Scholarly Jourizal of the Anzericarz Alliance for Theatre & Educatioit

Published by

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EDITOR Manon van de Water, University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Robert Colby, Emerson College Steve Feffer, Western Michigan University Lorenzo Garcia, University of North Texas Jeanne Klein, University of Kansas Johnny Saldaiia, Arizona State University Juliana Saxton, University of Victoria Gustave J. Weltsek, University of Puerto Rico-Cayey E.J. Westlake, University of Michigan Stephani Etheridge Woodson, Arizona State University

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Youth Theatre Journal Volume 2 1, 2007 ISSN 0892-9092

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