Pretending to be serious: Drama, democracy and the pedagogy of theatre
Join this event to hear Adrian Skilbeck discuss how drama pedagogy provides the grounds for testing what it means to become a democratic citizen.
Pretending to be serious: Drama, democracy and the pedagogy of theatre
26 Oct 2022, 17:30 – 19:15
Acting and performance are often used to indicate the perceived emptiness and duplicity of what is said or done. Recently, this has been the accusation levelled at democracy itself, that our politics is all theatre, lacking substance and seriousness.
Drama would appear to have little to teach us. However, in the seminar, Adrian will explore, that alternatively, we can see drama as offering the possibility of genuine community, through the play of language and our relations with others, including pretending and playfulness, discovering what it means to be serious and whether we can mean what we say.
This event will be particularly useful for those interested in philosophy of education and drama pedagogy.
PESGB seminar series
This event is part of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB) seminar series. PESGB is a learned society that promotes the study, teaching and application of philosophy of education. Its London Branch hosts seminars every Wednesday in conjunction with the Centre for Philosophy of Education. These seminars are led by national and international scholars in the field, covering a wide range of issues of educational and philosophical concern.
All are welcome to attend.
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Dr Adrian Skilbeck
Senior Lecturer in Education
University of Winchester
He has recently published articles on both the climate crisis and the crisis in mental health amongst young people, in each case questioning the adequacy of current educational responses. He is the co-editor of a forthcoming volume on Wittgenstein and Education and has recently submitted for publication a monograph on Stanley Cavell and the human voice in education which explores drama pedagogy.