Back on whose track? Reframing ideologies of inclusion and misrecognition in a participatory theatre project with young people in London

Abstract

The article explores the limitations of applied drama interventions promising integration and inclusion against the material realities of urban disenfranchisement and misrecognition. Through reflection on a participatory theatre project facilitated with young women in an urban secondary school in London, social and moral agendas emerge which reveal conformity to dominant narratives of social inclusion. Positive moments of recognition were limited when placed against macro discourses of race and power. The paper argues for the reframing of applied theatre practice that resists conformity to individualised and moral ideologies of inclusion to consider instead Nancy Fraser and Ruth Lister's arguments for new paradigms of justice that consider recognition, respect and redistribution.

Keywords:

• social inclusion
• race
• recognition
• redistribution
• participatory theatre

Notes

1. Underclass, an American media-led, populist concept, popularised in 1989 (see Lister 2004).

2. This source is not cited in order to protect the anonymity of the school.

3. This source is not cited in order to protect the anonymity of the school.

4. Names have been changed for reasons of confidentiality.