Theatre of the Oppressed for Critical Peace Education Practice: Difficult Dialogues in the Turkish University Classroom 1 Gulistan Gursel-Bilgin (Istanbul) This article emphasizes the urgent need for critical peace education practice in Turkish educational settings. The traditional teacher-centred pedagogies dominant in Turkish higher education make it difficult to employ critical pedagogies in ways relevant to students. This study proposes Theatre of the Oppressed as an invaluable instrument and medium to effectively employ critical peace education and investigates different sociological perspectives of societies, cultures and institutions. Towards this end, I first explain that educating for peace has to be a critical initiative due to its inherently controversial and challenging nature. Theatre of the Oppressed is then explored in detail as an inspiring tool for the aspirations and challenges of critical peace education practice. Finally, an example from a Turkish university classroom is presented in order to illustrate the affordances and limitations of employing Theatre of the Oppressed in similar higher education contexts. Introduction Peace education refers to a range of educational policy, planning, and practice aimed at transforming direct, indirect, and structural forms of violence. 2 Despite the growing literature on peace education over the past four decades, the potential transformation education can achieve to build peace is still limited, even unrealistic, because high-quality teaching methodologies introducing peace education are scarce. 3 If rooted in a Freirean analysis of power, critical peace education can achieve consciousness raising by allowing Freire ’ s transformative pedagogy. 4 This can be achieved through transformative agency grounded in critical consciousness and praxis relevant to the local realities of the students. 5 Also rooted in Freire ’ s extraordinary understanding of education, 6 Theatre of the Oppressed provides an invaluable setting to promote the transformative potential of critical peace education, allowing peace educators to promote social justice and equity through critical dialogue. Critical teaching methodologies introducing peace education in developing countries like Turkey are under-studied in the literature. Due to the contextual nature of peace education practice, it is essential to develop and employ critical pedagogies in ways that are relevant to students. Despite the challenges Turkish higher education settings might provide, Theatre of the Oppressed can be an invaluable instrument and medium for effective critical peace education and fostering the critical consciousness of students. This paper calls for critical peace education practice due to its invaluable potential to address numerous forms of violence. 7 Despite its high theoretical and practical potential to transform the present violent realities across the globe, this relatively new field of peace education may also present particular challenges in different settings. In dealing with such challenges, Boal ’ s Theatre of the Oppressed has a lot to offer as an effective tool for critical peace education practice. Developed by Augusto Boal as a form of social theatre aiming for intercultural dialogue and conflict transformation, Forum Modernes Theater, 33/ 1-2, 54 - 69. Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen DOI 10.24053/ FMTh-2022-0005 Theatre of the Oppressed provides an inclusive setting to critically analyse social injustices and conflicts between groups, and to create solutions to social challenges. This paper proposes Theatre of the Oppressed as a substantial tool for peacemaking practice. I first explain that educating for peace has to be a critical initiative due to its inherently controversial and challenging nature. Theatre of the Oppressed, as developed by Augusto Boal, is then explored in detail as an inspiring tool in dealing with the challenges critical peace education may present in various settings. The real contribution of the paper to the literature takes place in the final section where the link between critical peace education and the Theatre of the Oppressed is highlighted. Given that these two fields of study tackle similar social and political challenges by grappling with the existing structures, this link, although under-discussed in the literature, deserves to be emphasized. Peace Education: Complexities and Affordances Peace education aims to transform the present violent realities around the world, and create cultures of peace. 8 Fulfilling such a goal necessitates indirectly confronting different forms of violence present in society. Teaching about the causes and results of various forms of violence and establishing cultures of peace based on alternative ways of being and doing means changing established social structures and ingrained thought patterns. 9 Furthermore, peace education has been concerned notably with the aversion of disasters due to its attention and work especially in societies experiencing intractable conflicts. 10 As a result, one does not need to be an expert to see that teaching peace is intensely controversial, which makes it challenging to employ in public schooling. Noddings 11 argues that it is crucial for education to help students to understand what a variety of thinkers have said on the topic and encourage reflective exploration instead of telling them what to believe. Concerned that there are critical questions to which schools give too little attention and that current systems fail to go beyond producing citizens who are confused and easily manipulated, Noddings 12 provides priceless insights into a vigorous program designed to promote understanding of human attitudes toward war and peace, and an effectual setting in which teachers can be free to construct and implement such a program successfully. Another aspect of peace education that presents challenges for practitioners is that it is highly influenced by power relations. 13 Although many educators feel a sense of urgency to take action towards peace by addressing the existential dilemmas surrounding peace and conflict, “ they need to pause and consider how making peace can be both possible and probable within their particular institutional or community settings ” . 14 It is crucial that peace educators be aware of the controversial nature of this process and the obstacles they may face. Given all these complexities and challenges with which peace education has to grapple, peace educators would do well to reconceptualise what peace education entails and focus their attention on critical peace education, proposing criticism of society 15 and analysis of power structures. 16 Highlighting the importance of unpacking the societal conditions of peace education, Wulf 17 goes on to argue that central concepts of critical peace education are structural violence, organized peacelessness, and participation in society. According to Freire 18 education has the potential to promote critical consciousness 55 Theatre of the Oppressed for Critical Peace Education Practice that is vital for transformative agency. Such a perspective is in line with the idea of “ all human rights for all people(s) ” 19 and requires a comprehensive conceptualization and inclusive pedagogies rather than prescriptive instruments. Theatre of the Oppressed provides a powerful instrument for the emancipatory potential of critical peace education, promoting an essential blend of hope, faith and action. In the following section, Theatre of the Oppressed is discussed as an effective tool for peace educators who believe that education for peace has to be a critical initiative. Theatre of the Oppressed as an Emancipatory Tool Founded by the Brazilian director and activist, Augusto Boal, the Theatre of the Oppressed is an overarching theatrical form used for radical change in many areas of society. 20 Theatre of the Oppressed embodies dramatic techniques that enable spectators to become active spect-actors and engaged participants in social change. 21 Therefore, Boal ’ s vision of theatre as a political act is embodied in techniques promoting learning and empowerment, which are not limited to the stage and are meant to serve oppressed people around the world as powerful tools for building community, fostering dialogue and promoting democracy. 22 Boal suggests the necessity of the Spect- Actors taking on the role of Actors and invading the Characters and the stage. In this way, Theatre of the Oppressed provides the individual with an opportunity to perform a responsible act by occupying their own Space and offering solutions for the present reality. Although the stage represents a fictional form of the reality, the Spect-Actors are not fictional. They exist both on the stage, because they contribute to the scene and in their social reality because through their responsible act on the stage, they transform themselves as well. 23 Boal calls this “ a dual reality. ” 24 Another significant notion in the Theatre of the Oppressed is the idea of trespass. According to Boal, the notions of existence, freedom, and trespass are all connected.He states, “ to free yourself is to trespass. To trespass is to exist. To free ourselves is to exist. ” 25 This invasion is a symbolic trespass, and it is not necessarily violent. It results in the creation of a new reality. In order to transform reality, it is not enough to be aware of the oppressed reality; one must take action to recreate it through trespass. If individuals do not trespass, as Boal 26 cautions, they can never be free. According to Shutzman and Cohen- Cruz, one of the fundamental characteristics of Theatre of the Oppressed is that it demonstrates the inseparability of politics, art and therapy. They assert that “ Theatre of the Oppressed exposes the insufferability of politics that is artless and dogmatic, the presumptuousness of art that lacks selfor collective consciousness, and the ultimate futility (if not harmful) of therapies devoid of playfulness and cultural contextualization. ” 27 Thus, it is no surprise that educators and social workers have adapted Boal ’ s work to address social and political issues. The theory and practice of Theatre of the Oppressed combine effectively to constitute “ a praxis that is rooted in the struggle to change consciousness, and this struggle emerges as the art of organizing for direct democracy by using direct democracy. ” 28 Picher goes on to examine several of Boal ’ s works in order to explore closely the system of Theatre of the Oppressed, and emphasizes six basic tenets. The first tenet proposes creation as the inherent feature of human beings. In other words, individuals are born artists who (re)organize and change the world in which they live. 29 According to Picher, 30 the second tenet is also based on 56 Gulistan Gursel-Bilgin the first: individuals are also innately actors because they are social beings who interact with others. Thanks to their social consciousness, they take on the roles of actors and spectators. In this process, they engage in dialogue with other individuals as well as with themselves. In other words, while acting, individuals simultaneously (re)create themselves and their world through action and reflection. Boal calls this essential theatre. 31 The third tenet presents an egalitarian ethos. According to this principle, society is required to promote individuals ’ intrinsic capacity for creativity and consciousness. Boal believes that this can be accomplished with direct participatory democracy. 32 The fourth tenet relates to the ethical deficiency of capitalism. The market economy dehumanizes individuals and prevents them from fulfilling their full potential. Political, social, and economic power and the hierarchical societal structure that produce the system of the market economy are fundamental threats to democracy. 33 The fifth tenet is related to the hegemony of bourgeoisie that is reflected in various dimensions of society. Boal claims that individuals ideologically internalize capitalism. 34 The final tenet emphasizes the transformative potential of recreating realities. Closely linked with this potential, Boal perceives Theatre of the Oppressed as a martial art. 35 Picher states: Confronted by the intellectual domination of art and education by the ruling elites, Theatre of the Oppressed takes a militant stand: it challenges bourgeois theory and cultural practices by engaging in a battle around culture. Boal conceives of and practices Theatre of the Oppressed as a martial art, whose primary function is to serve simultaneously as a weapon of resistance against oppression and a tool for creating a transformative culture. 36 Theatre of the Oppressed provides people with a fruitful learning setting equipped with a variety of resources, including human ones. However, this setting offers more than learning: it presents opportunities for individuals not only to free themselves from oppression but also to inspire others to recreate and transform their own realities. In this regard, Theatre of the Oppressed presents a valuable pedagogy to construct and empower democracy through both individual and collective consciousness. Theatre of the Oppressed involves a diverse array of techniques, which can be employed in support of the struggles of the oppressed in different areas such as social and political struggles, psychotherapy, and pedagogy. The diverse techniques are strictly connected with each other and, in Boal ’ s words, “ all have the same origin in the fertile ground of Ethics and Politics, of History and Philosophy, from which our tree draws its nutrient sap. ” 37 Theatre of the Oppressed has three main categories: Image Theatre, Invisible Theatre, and Forum Theatre. Despite commonalities between all these categories, a particular form can simply be chosen, depending on the situation and the goals of the activity. It is not within the scope of this manuscript to examine all three categories. Image Theatre is discussed in detail in the following sections because it constitutes a promising medium for critical peace education practice within higher education in Turkey. Image Theatre Image Theatre entails an array of exercises and games created to uncover social issues. 38 In Image Theatre, spectators state their opinions on a particular theme related to the issues chosen by the participants. After the theme is specified, the spectator communicates their view of the theme by using other participants ’ bodies. In other words, they sculpt their bodies to impart a message. 57 Theatre of the Oppressed for Critical Peace Education Practice However, it is essential that this sculpting be completed without speaking. 39 In this way, the spectator becomes the sculptor and the bodies of other participants become clay. The spectator determines all the details of each body including its position and the facial expressions. Boal explains the rest of this process as follows: He is not allowed to speak under any circumstances. The most that is permitted to him is to show with his own facial expressions what he wants the statue-spectator to do. After organizing this group of statues, he is allowed to enter into a discussion with the other participants in order to determine if all agree with his ‘ sculpted ’ opinion. Modifications can be rehearsed: the spectator has the right to modify the statues in their totality or in some detail. When finally an image is arrived at that is the most acceptable to all, then the spectator-sculptor is asked to show the way he would like the given theme to be; that is, in the first grouping the actual image is shown, in the second the ideal image. Finally he is asked to show a transitional image, to show how it would be possible to pass from one reality to the other. In other words, how to carry out the change, the transformation, the revolution, or whatever term one wishes to use. Thus, starting with a grouping of ‘ statues ’ accepted by all as representative of a real situation, each one is asked to propose ways of changing it. 40 Referring to Image Theatre, Jackson states that the still, three-dimensional images created by the spectators uncover oppressions. 41 However, the image work never remains as it is. In contrast, it constitutes the prelude to the action revealed in the dynamization process. As they are required to become human sculptors and sculptees, individuals in Image Theatre are simultaneously the force making the decisions and the material to be moulded. They work in small groups to collectively identify issues or concerns affecting their lives. Afterwards, they use fellow participants ’ bodies as clay to sculpt a series of images representing these issues/ concerns/ oppressions. These literal or abstract images refer to a situation and provoke considerable debate. Image Theatre aims to leave language behind as a primary communication tool and to rehearse the visual and kinaesthetic. Therefore, it provides teachers with a unique opportunity to “ cultivate experiences that release them, if only temporarily, from depending on the fixed meanings of words, and to exercise the fluidity and multiplicity of the imagination ” . 42 In line with the famous Chinese proverb, a picture is worth a thousand words, Image Theatre emphasizes that “ our over-reliance on words can confuse or obfuscate central issues, rather than clarifying them ” . 43 Cahmann-Taylor and Suto-Manning point to the power, complexity, and depth of images, and assert that beyond meaning thousand words, the development of a specific cognitive process is promoted while communicating through images. 44 Similarly, Jackson points to the potential of human body to stay out of the censorship of the brain constructed by society or personal experiences through the process of “ thinking with our hands. ” 45 Thus, three-dimensional images rather than words can better reveal real feelings and beliefs. Furthermore, Image Theatre creates a polysemy of images, presenting an opportunity for individuals to uncover diverse but interconnected meanings presented by the same image. The image will reveal meanings for the participants that were even not intended by the sculptors. 46 Moreover, Image Theatre helps create more democratic and inclusive learning environments as it eliminates the language privilege, liberating those who are less articulate. All these characteristics and potential, Image Theatre can be a productive and creative methodology to employ in various fields to reflect on different aspects of so- 58 Gulistan Gursel-Bilgin ciety. Besides constituting a methodology on its own, Image Theatre can also be an effective process in the preparation of Forum Theatre, one of the techniques under the umbrella of Theatre of the Oppressed. 47 Theatre of the Oppressed: Affordances and Limitations for With Turkish Higher Education This final section of the study aims to provide an inevitably small sample of Image Theatre activity to illustrate the valuable potential of Theatre of the Oppressed for the practice of critical peace education in settings with limited resources. To this end, I briefly discuss the challenges Turkish higher education has been recently experiencing, present the activity I recently employed in one of my undergraduate classes in a leading state university in Turkey, discuss the potential Theatre of the Oppressed offers for critical peace education in similar settings, and finally, share insights into the affordances and limitations of Theatre of the Oppressed for practitioners. A Short Glimpse of Turkish Higher Education. Turkey ’ s growing population presents particular challenges for the country ’ s higher education system, creating an imbalance between supply and demand. 48 In order to overcome this problem, Turkey increased the number of public universities. 49 However, this increase in quantity has resulted in further problems related to admissions criteria, a lack of faculty members, and deficient infrastructure. 50 Because of the country ’ s focus on the quantity instead of the quality and standing of universities, Turkish higher education institutions face various systemic, organizational, and pedagogical challenges. The literature highlights a range of these systemic and organizational challenges, such as the highly rigid, out-of-date, and centralized higher education system in Turkey, 51 the urgent need for improvement in institutional governance, the lack of institutional autonomy and flexibility and mechanisms for accountability and quality control, 52 the insufficient internationalization and diversity, 53 and the poor strategic planning. 54 The substantial shortage and regionally imbalanced distribution of quality faculty and the increasing demands for higher education are also among the challenges the country ’ s higher education system must address urgently. Another issue relates to the financial resources on which the higher education system relies. Despite the increasing demand by the growing young population, Turkey abolished tuition fees at public universities in 2013. This resulted in insufficient funding to support the increasing number of universities in the country. Therefore, it is not surprising that the literature emphasizes the vital need for a sustainable financial model. 55 All these challenges have also influenced the quality of curricula and instruction in universities in Turkey. The lack of physical and social infrastructure and qualified academic staff is cited often. 56 One of the most frequent consequences is mass classes in which large groups of students take the same class in the same section. For example, in the university in which I teach, the numbers of students might range from fifty to five hundred or more depending on whether it is a program mass course (i. e., courses taken by the students in a particular program only) or a faculty mass course (i. e., courses that are taken by multiple programs in the same faculty). Under these circumstances, using learner-centred methodologies becomes extremely challenging, or in some instances impossible. 59 Theatre of the Oppressed for Critical Peace Education Practice Another challenge that most Turkish universities face is the quality of English language education. In order to keep up with the developments of the global world, the medium of instruction in most leading universities in Turkey is English. However, despite the country ’ s long history of English language education at university, empirical research highlights issues particularly in terms of language instructors ’ English proficiency and professional qualifications as well as in the learning environments and resources. 57 Thus, the English proficiency level of university students is often insufficient, negatively affecting the learning and instruction. Image Theatre in a Turkish Higher Education Classroom. In my social foundations of education class, we spent a few weeks studying the roles of schools in society and the relation between education and social stratification. The class participated in various activities during which they discussed the complexities of these topics and critically analysed the ways these complexities and challenges are reflected in their own experiences as students in the Turkish educational system. However, as was the case with any type of activity that required their active participation, the students found it challenging to actively participate in the discussions and share their personal thoughts and experiences during the class. As an instructor with years of experience teaching at Turkish universities, I had encountered similar difficulties with other groups of students while teaching different courses. Moreover, the theoretical focus of the course, the social foundations of education, made it even more complicated for the students to connect the topics to their personal experiences. The students were supposed to read a chapter or two before the class each week so that they would have basic information about that week ’ s topic. However, the texts in the course pack focused on Western perspectives on the different roles and statuses in Western educational settings and the role education plays in Western societies. The medium of instruction at the state university at which I was teaching was English. Due to the lack of resources in Turkish focusing on Turkish settings, I, like most faculty members in Turkish universities, had to compile articles and chapters written in English and focused on Western settings. Although officially proficient in English (they had to pass the English Proficiency Exam of the University or international tests e. g., TOEFL and IELTS before joining their departments), the students generally found it challenging to actively participate in discussions and other activities requiring English verbal skills. Having observed the challenges the students had been experiencing in participating in class activities, I had planned to employ Image Theatre. After the brief summary of the topics we had covered previously (i. e., sociology of education, school as an organization, and functionalist perspectives on schooling) and warm-up activities, I presented Image Theatre as well as a few photographs of groups of people performing Image Theatre. Then, I asked the students to come together with their groups to perform an image as a response to my prompt (in) equality of educational opportunity. According to Boal ’ s Theatre of the Oppressed principles, the question to be elaborated by the group should be always evocated by the group itself and not by the facilitator. As it was too difficult for the students to express the central issue to be elaborated, I decided to provide this prompt that was one of the themes that had stood out during our previous discussions in class. In order to help them, I asked them to follow these steps 60 Gulistan Gursel-Bilgin to complete their images: (1) discuss briefly what this phrase might mean to them, (2) design their image based on their discussion, and (3) perform their image in front of the class. This was a class of 76 students and each group included 9 - 10 students. They had been working in groups for two weeks so I made sure that this was not their first activity as a group. As the room was filled with seats and did not allow them to move around easily, I encouraged them to get out of the classroom. Some of them worked in the hallway, in a room available at the time, or outside (our building was surrounded by a nice green space filled with trees and flowers). When the class came together again twenty minutes later, most of the students were smiling and motivated. I could feel how interested and excited they were to perform their images. I saw a lack of enthusiasm in some of the faces, but that was to be expected because this would most probably be their first time performing Image Theatre. After all the students had settled down, each group performed their image. As the group on the stage was posing, I encouraged the class to first describe what the group was doing and then decode what the group was really trying to say. Later I asked the group to explain how close their classmates ’ descriptions were to their intended message. Afterwards, we continued to discuss the possible reasons for the image, direct and indirect reflections of the complexities they could observe in Turkish society as well as challenges to overcome in order to transform the image into a democratic and peaceful one. Finally, the group transformed the troubled image into an ideal image by receiving ideas from the rest of the class. Each group ’ s image powerfully illustrated the social problems (re)created by the educational system in the country and (re)produced by the students. In line with the saying a picture is worth a thousand words, each image performed by the groups displayed their observations on social and educational problems creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. Most astonishingly, students who had previously been passive and silent during classes despite a lot of encouragement and chances to participate actively in discussions were displaying images with powerful messages and observations in front of their classmates. Each of the images the groups performed displayed multidimensional and interconnected social categorizations such as race, class, and gender. These powerful images were so authentic that they evoked past experiences of the students, which resulted in critical discussions and analyses of social issues facilitated by my follow-up questions. The most challenging part of the whole activity for the students was often how to transform these social issues, so they needed additional guidance in this regard. The reformation of the original images to show solutions to the problems was the phase that most of the students found most enjoyable. The joyful moments of critical dialogue, praxis and transformation the students displayed while recreating the images to resolve conflict(s) and/ or problems towards democracy and peace were the embodiment of Freirean dialogue, 58 blending love, humility, faith, trust, hope, and critical thinking. 59 In the image performances of the students, the image that stood out most was the one that resulted in the most controversy. In that image, two female students were sitting in their seats with their heads close together and holding hands. They looked unhappy. All the other students in the group were mocking them: three students were taking photos and pointing at them, another three were whispering to each other excitedly, one student had written the letter L on the board and another student was looking at the two 61 Theatre of the Oppressed for Critical Peace Education Practice female students with a mocking expression and pointing at the letter. As the second phase of the activity, the class started to describe what they saw in the image. A student or two said that the female students at the centre were lesbians and all the others were mocking them. Then a male student who was a few years older than the rest of the students suggested, “ They don ’ t have to be lesbians! We tend to label people so easily! I see two female students who are close to each other maybe trying to engage in some sort of communication. ” At that point, a female student from the spect-actors took offence at what he said and shouted at him in Turkish “ You are a man; how do you know what they are living! It is easy for men to talk! I have experienced such difficult situations so many times! ” At that point, I reminded her of the multicultural commitments of the class that we had established at the beginning of the semester and invited her to consider and respect others ’ cultures and worldviews. Afterwards, with my additional guidance on diversity and the associated complexities in the country, we had a productive discussion on the types of discrimination and difficulties gender minority individuals face, especially in the Turkish educational system. We also talked about how we might tend to stereotype individuals based on what we observe. We ended our discussion with the final image that all the students sculpted collaboratively: the two female students were sitting in the centre circled and protected by all their classmates who were pleased to support them as individuals and classmates. This was one of the most spectacular images I had ever seen created in my classes. From Theory to Practice: (Re)conceptualizing the Higher Education Classroom In light of the discussion above, this inevitably partial sample of activity highlights valuable opportunities of Theatre of the Oppressed in practicing critical peace education in similar educational settings. The small sample of critical peace education in a crowded (76 students) university class emphasizes that critical peace education can and should be employed despite structural challenges such as class size and students ’ long experiences of traditional, teachercentred instructional methodologies. As I discussed above, traditional, teacher-centred instruction has been dominant in Turkish higher education as in other areas of the educational system. I have also underlined that Turkish universities have been trying to transition from teacher-centred to learnercentred instructional methodologies in accordance with the Bologna Process. This has been challenging for Turkish higher education due to various issues such as the overcrowded classes, the lack of resources and the long-established habits of traditional methodologies. However, the example above showed that we do have tools such as Image Theatre to break that vicious circle. This example suggests that peace educators who intend to address issues of structural inequality and practice critical pedagogy relevant to local understandings of transformative agency would do well to incorporate Theatre of the Oppressed into their instruction for several reasons: Firstly, Theatre of the Oppressed provides a powerful methodology for what critical peace education strives for. Critical peace education aims to address issues of structural inequality 60 and transform education to deal with various forms of violence. 61 As such an instructional goal necessitates en- 62 Gulistan Gursel-Bilgin gaging learners actively and inclusively, it is essential that critical peace education seek more than traditional instructional methodologies that are generally preferred in higher educational classes in Turkey. At this point, Boal ’ s work offers a productive tool for critical peace education. Consequently, in the social foundations of education class discussed above, we were able to delve into the complexities of educational inequality through the students ’ perspectives and discuss possible ways to overcome these challenges in Turkish educational settings. The example above also revealed that students do have thoughts to share with others regarding social inequalities and possible pathways to transform them. In fact, students need to talk about structural and social inequalities within the context of their personal histories, especially in order to overcome personal traumas and/ or prejudiced experiences. The female student ’ s reaction to the male student ’ s comment shows the urgent need for Turkish youth to start expressing their thoughts and personal histories related to inequality and discrimination so that they can start to resolve their potentially traumatic experiences. The transformative power of Theatre of the Oppressed can provide the tools and opportunities to achieve this. In my extensive experience of peace education practice in higher education programs where the medium of instruction is English (a second or a foreign language for the learners), Image Theatre has been particularly helpful because it eliminates the obstacle of a foreign language especially during critical dialogue about serious social problems. Although students are highly cognizant of the specific problem being discussed and motivated to offer their solutions, they often lack the linguistic skills or self-esteem to communicate their ideas effectively in a language other than their mother tongue. Speaking from personal experience as a peace educator, this often resulted in frustration and/ or lack of motivation among my students. Image Theatre, on the other hand, eliminates such potential difficulties because it is visual and kinaesthetic. Likewise, the findings of Schaedler ’ s study 62 indicate that the techniques of Theatre of the Oppressed improve participants ’ social awareness and transform people into the protagonists of their own lives. She asserts that although participants struggle to communicate, exchange ideas, and (dis) agree in a different language and culture, Theatre of the Oppressed can stimulate critical dialogue and is valuable for developing critical literacy in the classroom because it has reflective and transformative possibilities. Theatre of the Oppressed provides a setting in which students are not limited to their language and cognitive skills only but can engage in an aesthetic mode of knowing. Regarding the potential of drama, Schonmann 63 points to the benefits of an aesthetic mode of knowing that is achieved by complete engagement in active inquiry that combines creative and critical thinking. 64 For this process, Schonmann uses the term cognitive drama, “ the interaction between the consciousness of the teacher and the consciousness of the student, mediated by the process of an immediate experience in a well-defined time and place to construct a new connection between reality and fiction. ” 65 Cahnmann-Taylor and Suto-Manning 66 refer to Eisner ’ s extensive work on how visual arts education contributes to developing cognitively demanding somatic knowledge, knowledge where an individual learns to use sight to inform feeling. As Eisner states, “ many of the most complex and subtle forms of thinking take place when students have an opportunity either to work meaningfully on the creation of images [ … ] 63 Theatre of the Oppressed for Critical Peace Education Practice or to scrutinize them appreciatively. ” 67 Thus, Cahmann-Taylor and Suto-Manning stress somatic knowledge as an essential tool for educational processes that take into consideration the whole individual. They state that Image Theatre empowers instruction by leaving language behind as a primary communication tool and rehearsing the visual and kinaesthetic. It offers an effective way to identify issues and represent the multiple dimensions and complexities, such as emotions and positionalities. Thus, when employed in educational settings, Image Theatre opens up novel spaces for freedom, creativity, and imagination for students to see and experience their own world and extend known experiences to the unknown. 68 In this regard, Image Theatre lends itself to overcoming the challenges created by a foreign language as a medium of instruction. Similarly, the practice of aesthetic education of Theatre of the Oppressed is framed by the methodology Paulo Freire proposed. 69 According to Boal, 70 the aesthetic and pedagogical functions of Theatre of the Oppressed dialectically connect, creating a learning process that fosters critical thinking. Freire ’ s emancipatory, problem-posing education and Boal ’ s liberatory approach complement each other by providing individuals with opportunities for critical consciousness and emancipation. 71 Given that both are ingrained in Freirean philosophy, it is no surprise that - as discussed in detail above - both critical peace education and Theatre of the Oppressed focus on structural inequalities by questioning the status quo. More importantly, they both propose that radical change can be dialogical and effective. Freire points out that it is crucial that education promote the critical consciousness of students that can catalyse transformative agency. 72 To achieve this, education must be accompanied by opportunities for collective thinking and action. Thus, scholars and practitioners would do well to engage students in critical thinking to scrutinize the structural causes of power issues, domination, conflict and violence. 73 Likewise, as Picher states, Theatre of the Oppressed, both theoretically and in practice, “ constitutes a praxis that is rooted in the struggle to change consciousness, and this struggle emerges as the art of organizing for direct democracy by using direct democracy. ” 74 To achieve this, the participants reflect on their personal experiences, create and analyse power relations and underlying causes of oppression through images, and lastly, transform the oppression into more just realities. 75 Hence, Theatre of the Oppressed “ involves itself in the struggle to change consciousness; it engages the oppressed in a dialectical process of understanding the ideology of oppression and of creating new ideologies based on their desires ” . 76 One of the most significant characteristics that both critical peace education and Theatre of the Oppressed share is the notion of creating alternative realities collaboratively, i. e., both propose that there are no absolute answers for problems. Theatre of the Oppressed aims to stimulate debate to ultimately change society by moving “ from the individual to the general, rather than vice versa ” . 77 Cahnmann-Taylor and Suto-Manning, for example, employ Forum Theatre in the workshops they design for teachers ’ professional training in order to “ cultivate a learning environment in which participants rehearse living in multiplicity, creating alternative realities, and expanding opportunities for action. ” In so doing, they move away from the “ knowledge-as-truth ” paradigm as they seek to develop culturally responsive and situated perspectives that honour and affirm diversity. 78 Valuing first-hand knowledge and building on the situated representations of phenomena and their varying meaning to in- 64 Gulistan Gursel-Bilgin dividual participants, Image Theatre allows participants to see the cultural nature of knowledge and to consider multiple perspectives. 79 In this respect, Boal warns against evangelism - considering words of the authority as the absolute answer to a problem. 80 Thus, Cahnmann-Taylor and Suto-Manning propose a critical stance which seeks more Socratic methods, “ believing the answers to our problems are often multiple, contextual, and dialogic. ” 81 They go on to refer to Foucault 82 and Kincheloe, 83 who suggest that a critical stance acknowledges that authority is fluid and dialectically negotiated. The authors underline the necessity of such a stance especially toward pedagogy in order to “ recognize the importance of situated knowledges and contextual framings ” 84 In a similar vein, critical peace education does not aim to transfer knowledge from the teacher to the students. Peace practitioners aim to empower students by teaching them to question the status quo and facilitate their liberation by providing them with effective tools. “ It is an education about how to learn, not what to learn ” 85 . That is because it is not a process of indoctrination, but a route to confront, understand, and resist violence. 86 In conclusion, Boal ’ s Theatre of the Oppressed and critical peace education have several aspects in common in terms of their essence, aspirations, and methods. This paper illustrates that critical peace educators would do well to employ the techniques of Theatre of the Oppressed in order to be able to create substantive spaces to pursue transformative pedagogy. Using Theatre of the Oppressed for critical peace education practice might also result in various issues and challenges depending on the context. For example, during activities such as the one described above, resentment and conflicts might build up among the students. Moreover, designing and employing critical peace education curriculum and activities incorporating Theatre of the Oppressed might require extra time, energy, and especially motivation for practitioners. Experience, self-evaluation, and self-reflection as well as professional training can be invaluable in preventing and/ or overcoming difficulties before, during, and after employing the related activities of consciousness transformation. In short, the struggle to transform consciousness is mutually beneficial to both students and practitioners. Notes 1 The author would like to thank Dr. David J. Flinders for his helpful and constructive comments that greatly contributed to the manuscript. 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