Improvisation as a medium for achieving social integration goals of social strengthening of vulnerable groups

Irena Strelec (2014) Improvisation as a medium for achieving social integration goals of social strengthening of vulnerable groups. PhD thesis.

Preview

PDF Download (4Mb)

Abstract

Modern society is in the process of constant changing and restructuring so the integration of young people after finishing education into the world of adults is not self-evident. Young people must constantly develop their potentials, cultivate sources of their own strength, developing new key competences and coping strategies for adaptation to changes. Young people by which a few unfavourable life conditions are piling together and enhance their vulnerability have even less opportunities and abilities for social integration. In dissertation I present improv as a creative medium of social strengthening for achieving social integration goals in the group of vulnerable youth. In theoretical part I present improv as a form of theatre improvisation in which the individuals co-create, without advance preparation - they improvise dramatic scenes. They take into account the structures, rules and principles of medium. These elements enable co-operation of individual in the unprepared collective creativity and enable at the same time strengthening the sources of personal strength. In the second part I research how improv enables individual strengthening for participation in the play, and also into narrower and wider community. I note how active participation through creativity is especially important for social strengthening and that the group of peers has a potential to become a fertile environment for growth of individual under the certain circumstances. Furthermore improv enable the representation of vulnerable group to the wider public as a part of social strengthening process.

Actions (login required)