Navigating the boundaries of cultural difference through participatory drama

Abstract

This article presents a summary of a research project conducted in the UK and Taiwan, examining how two groups of primary aged children responded to the same set of drama lessons designed around a traditional Chinese story, The Water Ghost (in Chinese, 水鬼). The authors summarise both the story and their research methodology before outlining the theoretical perspectives that frame a selective analysis of their findings. These relate to literature on globalisation, in particular to ideas of ‘glocalisation’, the navigation of boundaries and the ethics of cosmopolitanism. The pull between forces of universalisation and localisation is of particular significance in the subsequent analysis, which includes a selection of visual representational material provided by both groups and a critique of the ideas of friendship that were expressed as part of the drama work. Here, although many similarities are noted between the two groups of children, the authors point to some significant differences that they tentatively speculate can be traced to deeply rooted cultural traditions. The article also illustrates drama's capacity to spatialise stories and ideas as a potential methodology to aid cross-cultural research of this kind.

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