Theatre of the oppressed as a transformative methodology to promote intercultural dialogue

Abstract

Promoting the culture of dialogue using active and transformative methodologies represents an essential challenge for educational institutions. In this sense, the Theatre of the Oppressed, founded by director Augusto Boal and inspired by Paulo Freire’s pedagogy, can constitute an appropriate methodology to promote in participants a process of co-construction of cultures and meanings. Based on these assumptions, the paper illustrates the experience of the Theatre of the Oppressed laboratory developed within the course of intercultural education and social integration of the XXX University of XXX. The occasion allowed the authors not only to detect the effectiveness of this approach, but also to reflect with a broader view on how important it is, in today’s context, to respond to educational emergencies through “the pedagogy of dialogue”.