Decrypting cultural nuances: using drama techniques from the theatre of the oppressed to strengthen cross cultural communication in social work students

ABSTRACT

Despite widening participation in social work education in the UK, social work students from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds can find that they have less positive experiences on social work courses than their counterparts. This can happen when courses do not equip students to navigate the subtle rules of communication with service users that are premised on dominant UK values. As a consequence BME students can be assessed as having poor interpersonal skills and poor skills in engaging service users. However, the issue is often more one of cultural differences and high expectations of cultural integration than one of incompetence.

This paper reports on a drama workshop using techniques from the Theatre of the Oppressed to foster awareness of the complexities of cross cultural communication that BME students may face. The workshop facilitates insight into the nuances of culturally informed values that differ from dominant UK values.

Drawing on student workshop evaluations, the authors highlight the positive use of techniques from the Theatre of the Oppressed as a pro-active pedagogical approach to equipping BME students with insight and skill to circumnavigate cross cultural communication in practice and develop awareness of empowering strategies to combat negative paradigms about BME cultures.

KEYWORDS:

• Forum theatre
• black and minority ethnic (BME) students
• cross cultural communication
• theatre of the oppressed
• drama workshop

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lana Burroughs

Lana Burroughs is a qualified Social Worker, Senior Lecturer and Post Graduate Course Leader in Social Work at the University of Bedfordshire, Department of Applied Social Studies. She is of Black British Caribbean heritage and draws on her personal and professional experience for this paper. Contact: [email protected]

Bethel Muzuva

Bethel Muzuva is a qualified Social Work practitioner, an Applied Drama Practitioner and Founding Director of Waterlily & Co (an Applied Drama company). She is of Mixed British, Mediterranean and African heritage and draws on her personal and professional experience for this article.