Augusto Boal is responsible for systematize the techniques of the Theater of the Oppressed (TO): theatrical practice where oppressed individuals can represent their own oppressions and rehearse ways to combat them. In 1992, he was elected city councilor of Rio de Janeiro Workers Party and decided to merge the techniques of the TO with the legislative practice, creating the Legislative Theater (TL). In this model, the councilman's actions would be conditioned to the results of the theatrical dynamics performed by TO groups scattered throughout the city: the oppressions expressed were stimulus for the alteration of the law. This paper understands this experience as a participatory institution (AVRITZER, 2008) and seeks to understand what TL can teach about forms of social participation. The research is divided into two stages: the description of and comparison with other already institutionalized participation instruments (public hearings, policy councils and participatory budgets). The study focuses on the framework of the qualitative methodology, involving bibliographic analysis, document analysis and semi-structured and unstructured interviews. The first results are linked to the contradiction given by the union between a Subversive Art, the TO, and a Politics of Order, the institutionality of the Chamber. Boal's experience was a laboratory to understand how the fields of art and politics intersect. The TL does not fit into any other model already categorized as a participatory institution. The defining characteristics are: co-production, pedagogical and artistical character. This new model inaugurated by Boal demonstrated with a broader democratizing capacity than the other instruments and with a similar degree of dependence on the political system. The first learning is linked to the belief in active citizenship, fostered by the co-productive and pedagogical dimensions from TL. The second relates to the artistic dimension, which gives the method a tone disruptive action needed for any democratizing project.
Augusto Boal is responsible for systematize the techniques of the Theater of the Oppressed (TO): theatrical practice where oppressed individuals can represent their own oppressions and rehearse ways to combat them. In 1992, he was elected city councilor of Rio de Janeiro Workers Party and decided to merge the techniques of the TO with the legislative practice, creating the Legislative Theater (TL). In this model, the councilman's actions would be conditioned to the results of the theatrical dynamics performed by TO groups scattered throughout the city: the oppressions expressed were stimulus for the alteration of the law. This paper understands this experience as a participatory institution (AVRITZER, 2008) and seeks to understand what TL can teach about forms of social participation. The research is divided into two stages: the description of and comparison with other already institutionalized participation instruments (public hearings, policy councils and participatory budgets). The study focuses on the framework of the qualitative methodology, involving bibliographic analysis, document analysis and semi-structured and unstructured interviews. The first results are linked to the contradiction given by the union between a Subversive Art, the TO, and a Politics of Order, the institutionality of the Chamber. Boal's experience was a laboratory to understand how the fields of art and politics intersect. The TL does not fit into any other model already categorized as a participatory institution. The defining characteristics are: co-production, pedagogical and artistical character. This new model inaugurated by Boal demonstrated with a broader democratizing capacity than the other instruments and with a similar degree of dependence on the political system. The first learning is linked to the belief in active citizenship, fostered by the co-productive and pedagogical dimensions from TL. The second relates to the artistic dimension, which gives the method a tone disruptive action needed for any democratizing project.
Augusto Boal is responsible for systematize the techniques of the Theater of the Oppressed (TO): theatrical practice where oppressed individuals can represent their own oppressions and rehearse ways to combat them. In 1992, he was elected city councilor of Rio de Janeiro Workers Party and decided to merge the techniques of the TO with the legislative practice, creating the Legislative Theater (TL). In this model, the councilman's actions would be conditioned to the results of the theatrical dynamics performed by TO groups scattered throughout the city: the oppressions expressed were stimulus for the alteration of the law. This paper understands this experience as a participatory institution (AVRITZER, 2008) and seeks to understand what TL can teach about forms of social participation. The research is divided into two stages: the description of and comparison with other already institutionalized participation instruments (public hearings, policy councils and participatory budgets). The study focuses on the framework of the qualitative methodology, involving bibliographic analysis, document analysis and semi-structured and unstructured interviews. The first results are linked to the contradiction given by the union between a Subversive Art, the TO, and a Politics of Order, the institutionality of the Chamber. Boal's experience was a laboratory to understand how the fields of art and politics intersect. The TL does not fit into any other model already categorized as a participatory institution. The defining characteristics are: co-production, pedagogical and artistical character. This new model inaugurated by Boal demonstrated with a broader democratizing capacity than the other instruments and with a similar degree of dependence on the political system. The first learning is linked to the belief in active citizenship, fostered by the co-productive and pedagogical dimensions from TL. The second relates to the artistic dimension, which gives the method a tone disruptive action needed for any democratizing project.
Keywords
Legislative Theatre
Participatory Democract
Social Participation
Theatre of the Opressed
