Encounters with climate change and its psychosocial aspects through performance making among young people

Abstract

In this article we argue that drama can provide complementary knowing for climate change education and shed light on the complexity of related psychosocial issues. We bring together an interdisciplinary understanding of eco-anxiety, psychosocial responses to climate change, and drama education. We draw on performance narratives created with young people in Finland and explore the psychosocial dynamics of climate change education. Three key themes are discussed in more detail in relation to education: 1) psychosocial dynamics; 2) alienation; 3) tragedy. The performance workshops provided a safe and creative space for exploring young people’s thoughts and images related to climate anxiety. Many relevant but often silenced issues became visible and were lived through in the process of performance making. This seemed to be fruitful both to the performers, teachers, and researchers, and suggests future, longer-term work would prove beneficial for engaging with these issues.

Keywords:

• Performance making
• psychosocial
• eco-anxiety
• climate change education
• tragedy
• alienation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Alienation and estrangement in theatre originally raised by Bertol Brecht 1940.