Community Arts from the Margins

Community Arts from the Margins explores the transformative power of community arts practices across diverse social, political, and cultural contexts.

Bringing together a wide range of methodological approaches – including Theatre for Development, Theatre of the Oppressed, playback theatre, indigenous storytelling, and folk media – this volume demonstrates how arts-based practices are being used to drive social change and amplify the voices of marginalised communities throughout the Global South. Contributors include leading scholars and practitioners, who offer grounded case studies that interrogate the possibilities and tensions involved in using arts-based methodologies for resistance, identity formation, health and well-being, civic engagement, and social transformation. Informed by long-term practice, critical reflection, and deep collaboration with local communities, the book presents participatory art-based practices that highlight the ways artists today are using community arts to address complex, intersectional issues in rapidly changing contexts.

This book is an essential read for applied theatre practitioners, scholars, and students. It would also be of interest to those involved in the fields of theatre studies, acts and activism, Africana studies, and anthropology.

Zindaba Chisiza is an Associate Professor in the Department of Drama and Theatre Studies at the University of Malawi. He is a Theatre for Development practitioner and director; he is the founder of Brother2Brother, a creative gender-transformative programme for young people in Malawi. His recent publications include the monograph Arts for Development, Masculinities, and Gender in Malawi (Palgrave Macmillan) and the edited collection Theatre and Media for Social Change in Malawi (Routledge).