Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Prison theater'

In an era characterised by impacts of cuts and austerity in the UK, this study is positioned at the interface between two socio-cultural institutions against which societies are judged: the arts and criminal justice. Within this field, the thesis investigates the ways women in prison are positioned in a carceral performance that is cyclical and inevitably ‘tragic’. The argument considers the tactics women use in order to firstly, survive their incarceration, and sometimes, resist, the institution. The theoretical frame is drawn from feminist criminology and Bourdieu’s ‘habitus’ to examine everyday performances as well as theatrical works by and about incarcerated women. This project adds to the field by locating performance practices in and of prison within wider social contexts of the politics of carceral spaces. The main questions posed by this project were ‘what does theatre/ performance offer to challenge stereotypes of ‘the cage’?; and to what extent and in what ways does performance in (and of) prison challenge/ subvert/ augment/ transform the site itself’? The research sought to understand to what extent women’s articulations of subjectivity could be a radical alternative to the logocentric and discursive prisons of sentences and prison records. The study was developed as an ethnographic examination of performance in and of prison, alongside exploring how contemporary performance modes are implicated in defining, containing, and correcting (criminal) women’s everyday performances. The thesis is primarily concerned with a critical reflection on theatre practices in prison, with particular emphasis on the political implications of the effects of prison as/and performance. The study makes claims for a radical practice in and about prisons that is distanced from current applied theatre practices, and as such points towards a more troubled rehearsal of how punishment is performed.

This thesis examines the state penitentiaries of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas that became sources of wartime supplies during the Civil War. A shortage of industry in the southwest forced the Confederacy to use all manufactories efficiently. Penitentiary workshops and textile mills supplied a variety of cloth, wood, and iron products, but have received minimal attention in studies of logistics. Penitentiary textile mills became the largest domestic supplier of cloth to Confederate quartermasters, aid societies, citizens, slaves, and indigent families. This study examines how penitentiary workshops converted to wartime production and determines their contribution to the Confederate war effort. The identification of those who produced, purchased, distributed, and used penitentiary goods will enhance our knowledge of overall Confederate supply.

The aim of this research is to contribute ideas toward the possibilities of what music therapy can be, by examining the therapeutic potentials of creating and performing music within the context of an Australian maximum-security women’s prison. Until recently, music therapists rarely documented or explored the potential of performance for music therapy practice while some health professionals even suggested that performance is anti-therapeutic (See Maratos, 2004). Music therapists writing about their practices in forensic settings emphasise the therapeutic potentials of singing and song writing rather than performance and they predominantly approach these activities from a behavioural orientation. The almost singular theoretical approach to practising music therapy in forensic settings reflects a lack of relevant research. Consequently, the purpose underlying this research is to explore the therapeutic potentials of making and performing music with women in prison from an alternative perspective; namely humanistic rather than behavioural. The aim of this research is not only to examine previously undocumented processes in music therapy such as performance but also to contribute to the literature concerning the health and wellbeing of women in prison.
The research was designed as a qualitative case study of a ten-week creative process involving seven women in prison who collaboratively created a musical together with artists from a theatre company. As a culmination of this ten-week process, the women in prison and the artists of the theatre company performed the musical to an audience of approximately 60 prisoners, prison officers, health professionals and prison staff. In order to examine the therapeutic potentials of creating and performing music in this case, post-performance interviews were conducted with the seven women who were in prison as well as with the artists involved in the theatre company. The researcher also wrote session notes throughout the ten-week process and these, as well as the interviews and five songs created during the ten weeks, comprise the data set for this study.
The data was analysed using a variety of qualitative techniques chosen for their suitability to two main research tasks: 1) describing the case and 2) analysing the therapeutic potentials of creating and performing music in this case. In order to describe what happened collectively throughout the ten-week process, a content analysis was performed upon the researcher’s session notes. Phenomenological techniques of analysis were then applied to the interviews with the women in prison in order to describe the essence of each individual’s experience of the ten-week process. The five songs are presented in their original form as a way of further illustrating the case. In order to describe the work of the theatre company, techniques of grounded theory were used to analyse the interviews with the participating artists. Grounded theory analysis was also the method used to ultimately explain various aspects relating to the therapeutic potentials of creating and performing music in this case.
The main results of this analysis are presented in three parts. The first set of results explains how creating and performing music in this case served the participating women in prison as a bridge from the ‘inside’ to the ‘outside’. These women described a real and symbolic divide between their realities inside prison and the world outside the razor wire. By creating and performing music, the women were able to experience five different ways of shifting outside of their realities in prison, by moving 1) from physical and symbolic ‘inside’ places to ‘outside’ places, 2) from privacy to public, 3) from solitude to togetherness, 4) from self-focus to a focus on others, and 5) from subjective thought processes to objective thought processes. The results outline different therapeutic potentials for each type of outward movement. The exploration of an outward-directed approach to music experience in this case can help to extend conventional music therapy practices where inward-directed therapeutic shifts are more commonly described.
The second set of results depicts the influence of five personal resources that helped the women to enact the therapeutic potentials associated with each of the five outward shifts. In particular, these results suggest that each type of outward movement was especially powerful when courage, readiness, exchange, support and trust were present in their fullest dimensions. It was these resources, rather than the processes usually associated with therapy, that enabled the therapeutic potentials of creating and performing music in this case to be fulfilled. Consequently, the notions of ‘therapy’ and ‘therapeutic’ are further delineated while important implications for the use of music as therapy and for the related practice of ‘arts in health’ are highlighted.
The third and final set of results suggest that music in this case, when compared with visual art and drama, provided the women with a ‘middle road’ in terms of the levels of exposure required by each art-form. As a predominantly gentle form of exposure, music in this case provided therapeutic potentials that differed more in strength rather than quality when compared with drama and visual art. These results suggest the importance of creativity in explaining the relationship between the therapeutic potentials of all arts therapies while also representing important implications for the development of indigenous theory in music therapy.
In relation to the stated aims, this research documents and explores the therapeutic potentials of musical performance and directly relates these potentials to new possibilities for music therapy practice. Furthermore, the research presents a humanistic rather than behavioural approach to creating and performing music with women in prison, thereby adding variety and depth to the sparse music therapy literature related to forensic health. More broadly, however, this research adds to the slim body of literature concerning women in prison by outlining a creative and powerful approach to helping such women improve their health and well-being.

Ce travail s’ancre dans une démarche compréhensive des expériences individuelles du quotidien carcéral. De nombreux entretiens semi-directifs réalisés auprès de différents acteurs des prisons (personnes détenues, personnels de surveillance, CPIP, membres de la direction) constituent les principales références et sources de cette recherche ; c’est en cela qu’ils sont présentés et donnés à lire au même titre que le développement qu’ils nourrissent. Cette enquête tend à comprendre et à montrer que, si la prison a des conséquences désocialisantes et désaffliantes pour les personnes détenues, le drame social de la prison se joue avant tout dans les nouvelles formes de sociabilité qu’elle induit. Le concept de « théâtre carcéral », fil rouge de ce travail, permet notamment de saisir et de questionner les logiques de « représentation » et de « rôles » (Cf. Erving Goffman) qui sont au cœur des interactions entre les différents acteurs sociaux des prisons ; ces « rôles » sont entendus comme les attentes, les fonctions et les comportements qui sont induits par le statut interne de chaque acteur (qu’il soit CPIP, surveillant ou «détenu»). Malgré des micro « sorties de rôles » et l’existence de nombreuses pratiques d’entraide et de convivialité en détention, les logiques interactionnelles du « théâtre carcéral » restreignent les formes de « présentation de soi » de chaque acteur aux yeux des autres, et dévoilent une appréhension généralisée de la relation à l’autre comme un risque. Ce travail pose l’art, dans le cadre d’expériences artistiques collectives, comme possibilité de sortir du « théâtre carcéral » pour les personnes détenues, et de (re)créer du « commun » à l’intérieur de la détention, mais aussi entre l’intérieur des prisons et l’extérieur. Cette proposition est illustrée par l’expérience-exposition « Des traces et des Hommes. Imaginaires du château de Selles », réalisée au CD de Bapaume à l’initiative du musée des beaux-arts de Cambrai en 2016. Il s’agit de montrer que les expériences artistiques se distinguent d’autres activités proposées en détention, dans la mesure où elles permettent aux personnes de construire un interstice dans lequel explorer des possibilités de vie (ensemble), et de se (re)connaître dans l’expression créative de leurs individualités ; l’engagement individuel au sein d’un collectif peut en cela changer la donne en termes de rapport à l’autre, en détention d’abord puis dans la perspective de la sortie de prison
This investigation is based on a comprehensive approach to individual experiences of prison. The methodology includes many semi-structured interviews with various social actors in prison (inmates and prison administration staff). These testimonies are presented as part of the analysis. The purpose of this investigation is to demonstrate that the experience of prison involves generating new forms of sociability, in addition to having “de-socialising” and “disaffiliating” consequences for detained people. The concept of “prison theatre” is an interesting guideline for understanding the logics of “representation” and “roles” that are at the centre of social interactions in prison (Cf. Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis approach). The potency of the established and expected “roles” in prison (as “inmate” or as “prison guard” for example) reduces the forms of “presentation of Self” and of socialization among the different social actors in prison. This work proposes collective arts experiences as a way out of the “prison theatre” for detained people and as an opportunity to create a common living world inside the prison and between “inside” and “outside”. Such a proposition is illustrated by the experience-exhibition “Traces and Humans: imaginations of the castle of Selles” initiated in 2016 by the Museum of Cambrai in the prison of Bapaume. This experience raises the power of art as a universal language which allows the possibility for inmates to express themselves inside the prison, to have contact with the “outside world” and to feel like they are still taking part in the society

Contemporary artists have been successful in breaking into prisons and persuading the prison institutions, the general public and prison educators to legitimize artistic activity. However, the discourses on prison theatre have been largely dominated by therapeutic and rehabilitative agendas, possibly at the expense of theatre practice - its aesthetic strategies, and aural and visual qualities. This research comes against such a background. The research project was developed in response to the debates and concerns about artistic work in applied prison theatre. It was located at the borders of what can be articulated about aesthetic intervention 'without purpose' in a prison setting; - without purpose in the sense of eschewing big claims of social and psychological efficacy. Through the practice of a/r/tography, which is a means of inquiry through a method of art making, the research examined what is possible about the work. Of particular interest was the potential to explore possibilities for aesthetic intervention understandings and nuances in prison theatre. Be that as it may, although there was a conscious moving away from the applied umbrella as overtly instrumentalist, it can be argued from the findings that there is a possible tension of falling under the umbrella.

This thesis occupies a multidisciplinary space where questions of utility intersect those of aesthetics, to engage with the concerns of theatre, criminology and psychology. As such, it straddles difficult territory: the no-man’s-land of applied theatre in prison contexts, a territory where the epistemological walls around disciplinary boundaries are often fortified, and where research worlds often collide. This thesis moves boldly into this territory, moving within and between the arts and the social sciences in a quest to understand and theorise change within prison theatre practice. Missing from many discussions of prison theatre is the connection between the often-espoused transformative claims, and what we know ultimately assists people to move away from crime. This is not an easy link to make and for the most part has not been made, due largely to the lack of an adequate theory of change for the work. This thesis develops a model of change for women’s prison theatre. This model is anchored in a three-tiered conceptualisation of desistance from crime and theorises the ways in which our unique embodied and aesthetic medium contributes to the change process. In so doing it provides a relevant and gender-responsive conceptualisation for applied theatre practice within settings with incarcerated women. Firstly, the research draws upon current theories of desistance to inform the development of an applied theatre practice in two projects with incarcerated women in Queensland, Australia. Secondly, it analyses the experience of the participants, staff and audiences against this theoretical background to understand those elements within the practice that provoke the experience of women’s change as defined by theories of primary, secondary and tertiary desistance; and thirdly, it infuses this analysis with an exploration of the importance of the aesthetic dimension of the theatrical experience for enhancing this change process. The emerging model identifies a theatre of doing, being and belonging in which the embodied and affective qualities of the practice catalyse the development of those elements known to assist women in their move away from crime. In so doing this thesis highlights the importance of an informed praxis within the field of participatory prison theatre with incarcerated women. It is buttressed, not only by claims of renewal or transformation, but also by the knowledge of the elements of our practice that assist offenders. The research is not evaluative, but conceptual: it provides a preliminary theoretical framework that can inform relevant and appropriate future evaluation. This thesis proposes that, by conceptualising how prison theatre can catalyse change, we are more able to claim the utility of our unique work with women offenders. We can view prison theatre as an ethical set of practices, embedded within the larger context of women’s pathways to crime and incarceration, thereby seeking to ameliorate suffering and restore dignity in ways that are clear and well defined.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School Educ & Professional St
Arts, Education and Law
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While the criminological literature has devoted great attention towards examining prison programs and interventions, the research has largely overlooked arts-based initiatives within prison. To gain an understanding of the impact that prison theatre has on the lives of criminalized individuals, this thesis represents a case study on Canada’s only inmate-run prison theatre, William Head on Stage (WHoS). Through qualitative interviews with 15 incarcerated WHoS participants and 6 former WHoS participants, this study explores the experiences of individuals with this long-standing theatre initiative. By implementing an integrative conceptual framework that captures the prison backdrop to which prison theatre operates, this study draws on Goffman’s (1961) total institutions as well as conceptual understandings around the prison culture (Ricciardelli, 2015; 2014b). Through the analysis of the participants’ experiences, the emerging themes in this study collectively reveal how the impacts of WHoS stem from the contrasting nature of prison theatre to both the structural and social systems of prison. While this research study helps substantiate the significance of arts-based initiatives like WHoS, it also helps bridge the gap within the literature between the arts and criminology.

The image of the prison looms large in early modern literature. By the sixteenth century, the prison was as much a part of everyday life as the public theatre. Although scholars have recently focused on the prison as a cite of cultural production, the depictions of fictionalized prison have not received much attention. Early modern drama in particular frequently resorts to prison as the setting for political struggle, inviting further discourse on authority and its sources. In this thesis, I argue that the prison's liminality allows early modern playwrights to explore the nature of royal privilege. I analyze Marlowe's Edward II, Shakespeare's Richard II, Shakespeare's The Tempest, and Fletcher's The Island Princess through the cultural and historical lens of imprisonment, determining that the prison is a space where relations and power dynamics between the king and his subjects can be questioned and subsequently condemned, upheld, or transformed.
Master of Arts
Much like modern art and popular culture, sixteenth-century English drama comments on both everyday life and political climate of its time. One image that appears frequently in the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries is the prison. In many plays, the prison appears as a crucial backdrop for political struggle. Setting the action within a prison allows the playwright to ask a series of questions regarding the nature of authority and privilege. In this thesis, I analyze Marlowe's Edward II, Shakespeare's Richard II, Shakespeare's The Tempest, and Fletcher's The Island Princess, focusing on the figure of the royal prisoner.

This thesis portfolio presents an autoethnographic account of a prison educator engaged in a research project that explores creative approaches to arts, prison education, work and training in custodial settings. The position of the researcher is located in-between and across professional practices including arts in prisons, prison education, work and training environments, which have conflicting agendas that, nevertheless, share the same institutional space. Policymakers and management bodies regulating these professional practices expect education and training to contribute to reducing reoffending. Procedurally, the research process was precariously balanced between, on the one hand, performing to measures of quality based on the requirement to reduce recidivism, and on the other, crude outcome measures driven by a utilitarian marketization of prison education that includes course completion rates calculated on the basis of minimum contact time. This broader context created an uncertain and constantly shifting context for the research, which began with my search for an effective creative practice in a Performing Arts Department (PAD) and ends in a Functional English classroom (FEC). Conceptually, the research draws on the What Works debate (McGuire, 1995; Brayford et al. 2010), which continues to create a disjuncture between policy and implementation resulting from unrealistic assumptions that arts and education programmes in prison might prevent reoffending, with evidence relying solely upon randomisation, reductive causation and numerical calculation. It also draws on desistance theory (Maruna, 2001; McNeil, 2006), which argues that desistance from crime can be understood as an indirect process, rather than an event. From an examination of my efforts to implement and develop creative approaches to education via autoethnographic tools, including fictional performative writing, I argue two main points. Firstly, the autonomy required by the creative prison educator engaged in an advanced research project re-positions the professional in a particular relationship with the bewildering processes of power, protectionism and performance management in the criminal justice system. Secondly, and as demonstrated through fictional performative writing, I argue that research methods engaging voices from the frontline of educational environments, can reveal seemingly small details relating to the challenges and possibilities of creative education in prisons that, nonetheless, have significant implications for developing productive and innovative approaches to desistance from crime. Moreover, from this grounded, yet restricted position, I speculate how such approaches might extend both creativity and creatively beyond the validation of this doctorate qualification.

In 2010 I delivered a drama program for women prisoners at Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre (BWCC), which culminated in a performance for prisoners and staff. The program, Living Stories, drew from a range of drama approaches and strategies including image theatre, drama therapy, text-based work, improvisation games, drama skills development and process drama, finally touching on group devised performance. This program formed the basis for my doctoral study, in whichI initially aimed to explore how drama might be a positive activity for women in thiscontext, and to discover what drama approaches would engage them. The study istherefore an example of arts-based, practice-based qualitative enquiry in the fields ofapplied theatre and prison theatre. One of my key concerns was to find a way ofintegrating the aesthetic with the instrumental, rather than importing models fromoutside the art form of drama (for example, rehabilitation theory) to explore itstransformative or ameliorative potentials. This led me to develop a pragmatistaesthetic frame through which to view and analyse the experience of Living Stories,influenced significantly by John Dewey's (1934) Arl as Experience, and the narrativetheory of Jerome Bruner (see 1986, 1990, 1991a, 1991 b, 2004). Shusterman's (2000a,2000b, 2008b) theory of somaesthetics also informed my analysis of the embodiednature of aesthetic experience in the project.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Education and Professional Studies
Arts, Education and Law
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The warrior has played an important role in most societies, often representing power. The military/ defence system is founded more or less on the ideal of the good and noble warrior. The aim of the thesis is to examine how the warrior's power has been expressed on stage in different times and different contexts. Three perspectives are discussed: 1) The warrior in society, 2) The warrior's self-image (ethos and warrior virtues), 3) The warrior in drama and on stage. In society, warriors in uniform are one means to increase dignity and give credibility to ceremonies. Society uses the same actions as theatre – music, choreography and costumes (parade uniforms). In the thesis there are some examples from the cultural history of the warrior (uniforms, gestures, music etc.). The principal part of the thesis is a study of the warrior as theatrical motif and a discussion of a series of warrior figures in literature and drama on stage. These figures are analysed from the perspectives of masculinity, play and historiography. The warrior in literature and drama is rarely a hero. The thesis gives examples under the following headings. The submissive warrior: Catherine de Medici used the warrior as a pliable tool to reduce internal court quarrels, when they were commanded to participate in the court ballets. A different kind of docility in warriors is found in the nineteenth century English melodrama. The false and coward warrior: Ancient writers often used satire in their plays, and warrior figures were easy prey for this. Miles Gloriosus and the Capitain in Commedia dell’arte are two examples. The weak warrior: Anthony, in Anthony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare, is a warrior hero who abandons his wife and family to live with the Egyptian queen, attracted by the luxury and refined lifestyles at her court. The oppressed warrior: The Good Soldier Schweik, created by Bertolt Brecht after a story by Jaroslav Hasek, is an oppressed ordinary soldier in the Czech army, who faces oppression by doing exactly as he is told, and consequently is creating confusion. Georg Büchner’s drama Woyzeck contains an altogether deeper darkness. The outmanoeuvred warrior: The captains in August Strindberg’s two plays The Father and The Dance of Death are both in conflict with their wives but lose their fights. The optimistic warrior: Chekhov introduces in the play Three Sisters two warriors with bright visions of the future but also tells the audience that life can be a tragedy. To portray the good and noble warrior is of course possible but it is seldom dramatic, whilst weak and lovesick, false and treacherous warriors are dramatically effective. The theatre's tradition of subversion is a variety of the ancient custom of 'turning society upside-down' during Lent, analysed by Michail Bakhtin in Rabelais and his World. The theatre is also a microcosm. The performing arts make use of the individual to criticize the whole. In drama, it is the individual warrior who bears the responsibility without the need to say anything about the armed forces. Sometimes this is done through the mirror of laughter. When the warrior is seen through the theatre's lens, the picture is enlarged and – according to physical principles, at a certain distance – shows the warrior as part of the upside-down world.

Certains spectacles, alors même qu’ils n’utilisent aucun matériel ni aucune technique cinématographiques (écran, caméra, images filmées), donnent au spectateur une impression de cinéma. Ils réveillent chez le spectateur une mémoire cinématographique qui tout en étant individuelle, appartient à une culture commune. Parce qu’il constitue un patrimoine commun, le cinéma est un moyen pour le spectateur d’exprimer l’expérience qu’il fait d’un spectacle. Notre idée étant que la présence du cinéma au théâtre dépasse la question de la composition de l’œuvre elle-même et qu’elle s’exerce aussi par le regard de ceux qui le reçoivent. Le cinéma du théâtre auquel nous nous intéressons est un cinéma « intérieur », formé de réminiscences suscitées par des spectacles qui portent en eux les traces d'un cinéma parfois oublié, toujours assimilé, incorporé. Ces « impressions » qui forment le cœur de notre travail résultent donc d’une double pratique de spectateur de théâtre et de cinéma chez ceux qui créent le spectacle et chez ceux qui le reçoivent. Nous proposons d’envisager l’intermédialité au théâtre au sein du spectateur et de sa mémoire, du simple fait que le spectateur de théâtre, est a priori un spectateur d’autres arts et que ses habitudes de perception esthétique se construisent par le biais de plusieurs pratiques. La notion d’impression permet de penser le rapport entre l’œuvre théâtrale et le spectateur. De la réception à l’analyse, l’impression liée au caractère intuitif de la perception et à son ancrage affectif joue un rôle essentiel dans l’élaboration de la pensée. Il s’agit de faire de l’impression un terrain de recherche et de s’en emparer avec ce qu’elle comporte de subjectivité, d’intuition et nécessairement d’approximation. Plutôt que de contourner la subjectivité souvent perçue comme un écueil, pourtant inhérent à l’analyse, il s’agira d’en faire un objet d’étude. L’enjeu sera de comprendre comment le cinéma en tant que culture visuelle et sonore, en tant que pratique façonnant des habitudes de réception, des discours, des réflexions critiques, des courants de pensée peut influencer le théâtre contemporain français notamment par le regard qu’on lui porte
Certain theatre performances, even if using neither cinematographic material nor techniques nevertheless give the spectator an “impression of the cinema”. They create patterns of perception that films have accustomed us to and solicit a cinematographic memory in the spectator. Even if this is wholly individual, it still belongs to a common culture. Moreover, it takes place through the process of interpretation. For example, the spectator in discussing a theatrical performance borrows from the technical and artistic imaginary of a vocabulary unique to the cinema. These “impressions” form the core of the following work and are the result of a viewing practice that is at once theatrical and cinematic.Impressions play a central role in the elaboration of thought and are connected to the intuitive character of perception and its emotional foundations. What has been made into an object of study in the following work is the very subjectivity that is most often avoided as a stumbling block to interpretation even if it is inherent in any mode of analysis. The following work will make an effort grasp what the passing of cinema in contemporary theatre allows us to say about the latter. It will do this through an analysis of a sample of current representative theatrical works and how the spectator’s speech is produced through them and in relation to the cinema. Several contemporary theatrical productions will be at the centre of this study: Salves de Maguy Marin, Les Marchands of Joël Pommerat, Ricercar de François Tanguy or This is how you will disappear by Gisèle Vienne

Dans les dernières décennies, l'augmentation de la consommation des services de soins et la croissance de la population ont fait de l'élimination du gaspillage et l'amélioration continue de la productivité de plus en plus cruciale pour les hôpitaux. La productivité et l'efficacité d'un hôpital dépendent des conditions de travail des soignants qui sont influencés fortement par l'organisation des lieux de travail et des installations [Dares (2013)]. L’agencement des installations consiste à "déterminer l'organisation physique d'un système de production et de trouver l’arrangement le plus efficace de ‘n’ installations dans ‘n’ positions" [Singh et Sharma (2006)]. L’agencement des installations a un grand impact sur la productivité et l'efficacité du fonctionnement d'un hôpital. Etant conscient de ce besoin, le travail que nous présentons vise à trouver une solution à l’agencement des salles du Bloc Opératoire "le coeur de l'hôpital", ainsi que les salles annexes en proposant un outil intelligent que nous mettons à la disposition des maitres d’ouvrages pour optimiser leur conception du bloc opératoire. Les méthodes que nous avons explorées pour la réalisation de ce travail sont les méthodes exactes, les heuristiques, les métaheuristiques et les méthodes intelligentes, ce qui nous a permis de comparer les différentes approches afin de fournir la meilleure solution pour différents scénarios de problèmes. Nous présentons les contributions majeures de notre travail, à commencer par l'application de la programmation mathématique en nombres entiers mixtes (Mixed Integer Programming (MIP)) pour résoudre le problème d’agencement du bloc opératoire (Operating Theater Layout Problem (OTLP)) comme la première contribution scientifique. Ce travail considère trois structures différentes (multi-section, multi-étage et multi-rangé) dans deux types d'environnement différents, tout en optimisant deux fonctions objectifs différents. La combinaison de ces différentes composantes donne lieu à neuf modèles MIP pour résoudre l’OTLP pour lesquels une solution optimale a été atteinte pour des problèmes avec jusqu'à quarante salles. L'utilisation de Systèmes Multi-Agents (MAS) pour résoudre le problème d’agencement des installations est la deuxième contribution scientifique que nous présentons dans le cinquième chapitre. Dans la littérature, on retrouve un seul travail [Tarkesh et al., (2009)] ayant appliqué le MAS pour résoudre des problèmes de petites tailles, ce qui rend notre travail, le premier adoptant MAS pour répondre à la fois le FLP sous environnement statique et dynamique pour des problèmes de grande taille en utilisant un algorithme en trois étapes pour résoudre OTLP. La plate-forme multi-agents développée exploite les trois différents protocoles de communication d’agents, à savoir la coordination, la coopération et la négociation pour concevoir différentes architectures d’agents afin de faire face à l’OTLP statique et dynamique. La dernière contribution consistant en l'utilisation de l’optimisation par essaim de particules (Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)) sous une représentation continue de l’espace de recherche pour résoudre le problème d’agencement multi-rangée est présentée dans le sixième chapitre. Puisque la PSO est généralement utilisé pour résoudre les problèmes d’affectation ou les FLP avec une représentation discrète, la formulation actuelle est parmi les rares travaux traitant la représentation continue du FLP. Nous avons conçu une nouvelle technique de codage des particules et des heuristiques appropriées pour générer des solutions initiales et pour effectuer la procédure de recherche locale. Une autre nouveauté est liée à l'application de la PSO à un problème de structure multi-rangé, qui n'a pas été abordé auparavant car à notre connaissance, les travaux avec la PSO ont formulé le FLP comme une structure d’une seule rangée ou dans le meilleur des scénarios, comme une structure à deux rangées
In the last decades, the important increasing consumption of health care and the growing of population make elimination of waste and continuous productivity improvement more and more critical for hospitals to provide their care services effectively and efficiently. The productivity and efficiency of a hospital depends on the caregivers working conditions, which are impacted greatly by the work place and the facilities organization [Dares (2013)]. Facilities planning “determines the physical organization of a production system and finding the most efficient arrangement of ‘n’ indivisible facilities in ‘n’ locations” [Singh & Sharma (2006)]. Thus, facilities planning has a great impact on the productivity and efficiency of running a hospital. Being aware of this need, the work we present aims to find a solution to facilities planning for the Operating Theater “the heart of hospital” by proposing an intelligent tool we make available to decision makers for optimizing their operating theater design. Our research work focuses on the use of operational research methods in order to find a solution for this optimization problem. Methods we explored for the realization of this work were variant, namely exact algorithm, heuristics, metaheuristics and intelligent methods, which allow us to compare different issues in order to provide the best solution to different scenarios of problems. Thus, in this dissertation we present the major contribution of our work, starting with the application of Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) to solve Operating Theater Layout Problem (OTLP) as the first scientific contribution. This work considers three different formulations (i.e. the multi-sections, the multi-floors and the multi-rows) in two different environment types (i.e. static and dynamic) while optimizing two different objective functions (i.e. to minimize the total traveling cost and to maximize the total adjacency rate). The combination of these different components gives rise to nine MIP models to solve the OTLP for which optimal solution was provided to problems with until forty facilities. These contributions are presented in the third and fourth chapters. The use of Multi-Agent System (MAS) to solve Facility Layout Problem (FLP) is the second scientific contribution we present in chapter five. In literature, only one work [Tarkesh et al., (2009)] applied the MAS to solve small sized problems, which makes our work the first one adopting MAS to address both the static and dynamic FLP for large sized problems using a novel algorithm running in three steps to solve OTLP. The developed multi-agent platform exploit the three different agents’ protocols of communication, namely coordination, cooperation and negotiation to conceive different agents’ architectures to deal with the static and dynamic OTLP. The last contribution consisting on the use of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) under continuous layout representation to solve multi-rows FLP is presented in chapter six. Since the PSO is generally used to solve assignment problems or discrete FLP, the actual formulation is among the few works dealing with the continuous one. This leads us to conceive a novel encoding technique and the appropriate heuristics to generate initial solutions and to perform the local search procedure. Another novelty is related to the application of PSO to a multi-rows layout problem, which was not addressed before. To the best of our knowledge, PSO works usually formulate the FLP as a single row or in the best of scenarios, as a double-rows problem

La ricerca indaga in ottica pedagogica il dispositivo educativo in atto all’interno del laboratorio teatrale dell’Istituto Penale Minorile ‘C. Beccaria’ di Milano. Attraverso una metodologia di ricerca etnografica (Bove, 2009) inquadrata nella strategia di ricerca dell’intrinsic case study (Stake, 1994), da novembre 2019 a febbraio 2020 si è svolta la fase di osservazione partecipante al laboratorio teatrale. La cornice teorica che ha consentito di analizzare i dati di ricerca è la teoria pedagogica di Riccardo Massa, che individua come oggetto della ricerca pedagogica le dimensioni progettuale, metodologica, pragmatica e strutturale del dispositivo educativo (Massa, 1986, 1987). Tale cornice teorica ha guidato l’osservazione sul campo ed è stata impiegata per l’analisi dei dati, che sono stati letti e sistematizzati attraverso tale teoria. L’operazione di analisi ha consentito di rintracciare il dispositivo in atto all’interno del laboratorio teatrale, e di qualificare la struttura dell’esperienza come un dispositivo comunitario e transizionale che funziona come un gioco. La ricerca ha, quindi, aperto a un’interpretazione finale dell’esperienza del teatro in carcere alla luce delle teorie sul gioco (Fink, 2008; Huizinga, 1946; Winnicott, 1971) e dei costrutti teorici di “spazio eterotopico” (Foucault, 2002), e “fenomeno liminoide” (Turner, 1986). Alla luce di tali teorie, il teatro in carcere è stato interpretato come esperienza trasformativa ed educativa in virtù della sua dimensione finzionale, liminale e transizionale: un’area potenziale (Mottana, 1993) che si staglia sulla vita diffusa istituendo, all’interno di un’istituzione totale come il carcere, una discontinuità generativa e una zona intermedia e mediativa, di soglia, di contatto e di passaggio simbolico e materiale tra esterno e interno, tra realtà e possibilità. Il caso di studio è stato, infine, incorniciato da un’analisi della letteratura nazionale e internazionale sullo stato dell’arte del fenomeno del teatro in carcere e collocato tra gli studi che, entro tale panorama, lo interpretano da una peculiare prospettiva pedagogica.
From a pedagogical perspective, the research investigates the educational dispositive within the theatre laboratory of the Juvenile Penal Institute 'C. Beccaria' in Milan. Through an ethnographic research methodology (Bove, 2009) framed in the research strategy of the intrinsic case study (Stake, 1994), the participant observation phase took place from November 2019 to February 2020. The theoretical framework that made it possible to analyze the research data is Riccardo Massa's pedagogical theory, which identifies the methodological, pragmatic and structural dimensions of the educational dispositive as the object of pedagogical research (Massa, 1986, 1987). This theoretical framework has guided field observation and has been used for the analysis of the data, which have been read and systematized through this theory. The analysis traced the educational dispositive within the theatre laboratory and qualified the structure of the experience as a community and transitional dispositive that works like a game. The research has therefore opened to a final interpretation of the theatre experience in prison in the light of the theories on playing (Fink, 2008; Huizinga, 1946; Winnicott, 1971) and of the theoretical constructs of "heterotopic space" (Foucault, 2002), and "liminoid phenomenon" (Turner, 1986). In the light of these theories, theatre in prison has been interpreted as a transformative and educational experience by virtue of its fictional, liminal and transitional dimension: a potential area (Mottana, 1993) that establish, within a total institution like the prison, a generative discontinuity and an intermediate and mediative zone, of threshold, contact and symbolic and material passage between outside and inside, between reality and possibility. The case study has been framed by an analysis of national and international literature on the state of the art of the phenomenon of theatre in prison and placed among the studies that, within this panorama, interpret it from a peculiar pedagogical perspective.

Esta pesquisa propõe a análise da censura prévia exercida pelo Estado sobre o teatro, a partir dos documentos existentes nos prontuários que compõem o Arquivo Miroel Silveira, sob o prisma do gerenciamento de informações. Verificamos que o exercício do gerenciamento de informações costuma ser apresentado como atividade planejada, técnica, racional e neutra, exercida para a melhoria de processos. Já a censura é exercida por meio de processos burocráticos para a proteção do bem comum. Apesar dos objetivos diferentes, resultam na utilização de um mesmo recurso, que é a interferência no fluxo de informações ? relacionadas à produção material, no âmbito das empresas e relacionadas à produção artística, quando se trata da censura prévia. A partir daí, propusemos um estudo da censura prévia como um tipo de gerenciamento de informações. Para isso, analisamos o processo burocrático da censura prévia ao teatro. Nossa pesquisa mostrou que o gerenciamento de informações realizado através da censura permite que o Estado se aproprie de informações sobre a produção teatral e das pessoas a ela relacionadas, puna aqueles que expressam idéias divergentes e coíba a resistência à ação da censura. Por meio de nosso estudo, concluímos que o gerenciamento de informações e a censura, de fato, não são exercidos para o bem comum, mas para atender aos interesses daqueles que têm o poder para planejá-los e colocá-los em prática.
This research proposes the analysis of the censorship the government imposed over the theater prior to any production or exhibition. The research will utilize the documents and files from the ?Arquivo Miroel Silveira? (Miroel Silveira Archives), and analyze them from the perspective of the information management. We verified that the information management is a planned, technical, rational and neutral activity used to improve procedures. Censorship uses bureaucratic processes to protect society. Even though with different objectives, both activities utilize the same method, which is the interference in the information flow. The information flow can be related to the production of services or goods, in the case of the companies, and in the case of prior censorship, the artistic production. This research proposes the study of prior censorship as a kind of information management. In order to achieve our objectives, we studied the bureaucratic process of the prior censorship to the theater. Our research showed that the information management utilized by the censorship allows the government to obtain information about the artistic productions and the people involved with them, and punish those who express ideas that are contrary to the government?s ideas. The information also allows the government to prevent any resistance to the actions of censorship. Our study concludes that the information management and prior censorship, in fact, are not used for the benefit of the society, but to achieve the interests of those with the power to plan and exercise them.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Akron, School of Dance, Theatre, and Arts Administration-Theatre Arts, 2009.
"August, 2009." Title from electronic thesis title page (viewed 10/21/2009) Advisor, James Slowiak; Faculty readers, Durand Pope, David Bush; School Director, Neil Sapienza; Dean of the College, Dudley Turner; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

La tesi si inserisce nel filone di studi della Sociologia del Carcere ed ha come oggetto di indagine il processo di ‘incorporazione’ delle attività teatrali all’interno della funzione rieducativa della prigione, vista attraverso i diversi ruoli istituzionali. Sullo sfondo di una più ampia ricostruzione del dibattito sociologico sulle teorie e le funzioni della pena quale costruzione sociale culturalmente e storicamente determinata, nonché delle dinamiche di carcerizzazione che connotano il sistema penitenziario attuale − con particolare riferimento al contesto italiano − la pratica teatrale, quale strumento di riabilitazione e reinserimento sociale dei detenuti, viene esplorata nella sua evoluzione storica e nelle sue molteplici implicazioni sociologiche. L’analisi dei materiali empirici raccolti in 12 istituti della Lombardia e dell’Emilia Romagna attraverso lo strumento dell’intervista semistrutturata, in riferimento ai livelli di interazione tra teatro e carcere individuati come macro (rappresentanti istituzionali: direttori, comandanti, funzionari giuridico-pedagogici), meso (operatori teatrali) e micro (detenuti beneficiari dell’attività) evidenzia le ricadute, le potenzialità, le criticità del processo di istituzionalizzazione; le resistenze messe in atto dal personale penitenziario; il senso di estraneità ed i rischi di assimilazione degli operatori esterni; le opportunità di cambiamento personale e relazionale che l’attività teatrale offe alle persone ristrette in relazione al proprio percorso rieducativo.
The thesis ranks among the studies of the Sociology of prison and has as its object of investigation the process of 'incorporation' of theatrical activities within the re-educational function of the prison, seen through the different institutional roles. On the background of a broader reconstruction of the sociological debate on the theories and functions of punishment as a culturally and historically determined social construction, as well as of the dynamics of imprisonment that characterize the current penitentiary system – with particular reference to the Italian context – theatre, as a tool for rehabilitation and social reintegration of prisoners, is explored in its historical evolution and in its multiple sociological implications. The analysis of empirical materials collected in 12 institutes in Lombardia and Emilia Romagna through semi-structured interviews, with reference to the levels of interaction between theatre and prison identified as macro (institutional representatives: directors, commandants, educationalists), meso (theatre operators) and micro (prisoners) highlights the repercussions, potential, critical aspects of the institutionalization process; the resistance put in place by prison staff; the sense of extraneousness and the risks of assimilation of external operators; the opportunities for personal and relational change that theatre offers to restricted people in relation to their re-education.

Cette thèse envisage la critique de la « société du Spectacle » (concept forgé dans l’essai éponyme de Guy Debord) telle qu’elle procède dans des œuvres du théâtre expérimental et sur les scènes de la performance au cours des années 2000 à Berlin, Londres et Paris. Les pièces étudiées recyclent des références empruntées aux médias de masse, souvent assimilés à des machines à aliéner le public. Le corpus regroupe aussi bien des auteurs et des metteurs en scène que des collectifs : Martin Crimp, David Ayala, Joël Jouanneau, Falk Richter, René Pollesch, Tom Kühnel, Katie Mitchell, le Collectif MxM (Cyril Teste), Forced Entertainment (Tim Etchells), Gob Squad et Superamas. L’approche pluridisciplinaire traite à la fois des composants dramaturgiques et des considérants sociologiques de la représentation. D’une part, ce travail étudie la structuration des réseaux dans lesquels les artistes se rencontrent ou coopèrent. D’autre part, nous examinons tant l’organisation des différents éléments scéniques, parmi lesquels les caméras et les écrans tiennent une place importante, que la corporéité des interprètes ainsi que les modes de réception des spectateurs, entre autres par la mise en place d’une enquête. En trans-contextualisant leurs sources, les artistes instaurent des écarts et creusent de la distance à travers divers procédés : l’incorporation littérale, la citation, la parodie et le pastiche, mais aussi l’ironie et le ton cool fun. La dimension critique de ces œuvres ne s’exerce pas de manière frontale et n’est souvent pas même revendiquée. Loin de la rejeter en bloc, les auteurs et interprètes affectionnent certains objets de la culture des médias de masse. Pour mettre en branle leur fonction critique, ils se situent au cœur même de la « société du Spectacle » et de l’esprit du temps. Ainsi cette critique s’est déplacée de l’extérieur à l’intérieur du champ. Leur démarche mêlant le sérieux au ludique dénote une volonté de ne pas se désolidariser des spectateurs face auxquels ils veulent s’inscrire sur un pied d’égalité pour rendre le dialogue et parfois l’interaction possibles
This thesis tackles the critic of the “Society of the Spectacle” (concept brought by the Guy Debord’s eponymous essay) performed in experimental theater works and the performance scenes during the 2000s in Berlin, London and Paris. The studied theater pieces borrow cultural references to the mass media, often considered as machines to alienate the public. The corpus includes authors as well as stage directors and collectives: Martin Crimp, David Alaya, Joël Jouanneau, Falk Richter, René Pollesch, Tom Khünel, Katie Mitchell, the Collective MxM (Cyril Teste), Forced Entertainment (Tim Etchells), Gob Squad and Superamas.The multidisciplinary approach deals with both the dramaturgy aspects and the sociological patterns of representation. One the one hand, this work studies the network structure in which the artists meet each others and collaborate. On the other hand, we investigate the various stage elements, among which cameras and screens take an major part, as well as the actors’ corporeality as well as the spectators’ ways of perception, among others, by the mean of a survey. By trans-contextualizing their sources, the artists create a gap and increase the distance with them using several techniques: literal incorporation, quotation, parody and pastiche, but also irony and cool fun tone.The critical dimension of these works is not straight forward, and often not even claimed. Far from rejecting it as a whole, the authors and actors are fond of the mass media culture’s objects. In order to set in motion their critical function, they place themselves at the heart of the “Society of the Spectacle” and the Zeitgeist. Thus, such a critic has moved from an external point of view to an internal one. Their approach, mixing seriousness and fun, indicates a will not to separate themselves from the spectators to whom they want to set on equal footing in order to make the dialogue and sometimes the interaction possible

In this study I have met three authors in a dialogue seminar on their literary work. The discussion, starting from texts by Lacan and Socrates, revolved around the dichotomy of personal and private, and how to benefit from personal material in one’s literary work. The three authors reflected on the writer Karl Ove Knausgård and the photographer Sally Mann, who both are working with their own immediate family as a motif. In Knausgård, you can find a strong and self-dissecting writer persona as a medium of creating recognition in the readers mind. In Sally Mann the metaphorical dimensions of this family motifs transforms them to images of much more general relevance than their private settings. On the subject of truth and story I also reflect on the different approaches that the authors Primo Levi, Viktor Frankl and Imre Kertész have on their experiences of the Holocaust. Finally the importance and relevance of metaphors as a way of getting a touch of one’s own private material is starting to be investigated.
I det här arbetet har jag samlat tre författare i olika genrer till ett dialogseminarium om sin arbetsprocess. Samtalet, som utgick från texter av Lacan och Sokrates, kretsade mycket kring författarens arbetsvillkor och de olika metoder som författarna använder sig av för att hitta sin frihet i förhållande till dem. I samtalet blev det uppenbart hur beroende alla författarna är av en förstående medarbetare. Okunskap och felläsning från en dramaturg eller redaktör kan bokstavligt talat bli förödande.    Dialogmötet kom att kretsa kring frågeställningar om hur man skiljer privat och personligt. Vi diskuterade författaren Karl Ove Knausgård och fotografen Sally Mann, som båda jobbar med sin egen familj som motiv. Genom att Knausgård använder sig själv som en roll visar han på en möjlighet att närma sig ett eget material. Hos Sally Mann är det istället de metaforiska dimensionerna i de vardagliga motiven som gör sig tydliga.    Också i Imre Kertész skildring av förintelsen förvandlas den till något större: en metafor för hur ödet och slumpen kan påverka våra liv. Hans berättelse blir på det sättet mindre beroende av vad som är sant, än skildringarna av två andra överlevare från Auschwitz: Primo Levi och Viktor Frankl. Vilket inte betyder att de andras texter saknar metaforisk styrka.    Avslutningsvis går uppsatsen in på författarnas sätt att använda metaforen som ett verktyg för att berätta. Metaforen är alltid en bild av någonting annat, den skapar en fördjupning och oförväntad igenkänning hos läsaren. Den ger också möjligheter för konstnären/författaren att berätta saker som hen inte kan säga på andra sätt.  Metaforen uppstår genom igenkänning i skapandet. Man kan välja att gå med den, eller aktivt gå emot den för att fördjupa textens eller filmens metaforiska dimension.    En viktig aspekt för yrkeskunnande inom konsten och författarskap är att aldrig ligga före i sitt arbete genom att oroa sig för vad omgivningen ska tycka och tänka. Då finns det en risk att man blir en feg konstnär, vilket är förödande för ens skapande.

There is widespread agreement among researchers, policy experts, and community advocates that the United States’ mass incarceration system is a policy failure. Despite bipartisan consensus and sporadic reform attempts, the policies and systems ravaging low-income families and communities of color remain largely intact. Formerly incarcerated people have been driving the social movement to dismantle mass incarceration since the movement’s inception, yet their advocacy efforts and creation of alternative programmatic and policy approaches have only recently been acknowledged and documented and have yet to be implemented widely. Through this study, I aimed to fill these gaps in knowledge about the advocacy work of women impacted by the justice system by documenting the ethos, practices, and strategies of Theater for Social Change (TSC), a performance arts-based advocacy group composed of formerly incarcerated women in service of justice system transformation. Using action research methodology, I employed dialogic and iterative processes, in partnership with TSC, to develop interview and focus group protocols and analyze data. I also undertook a thematic analysis of post-performance audience discussions, as well as the scenes and monologues created by the ensemble over the years. This research project found that the ensemble way of working—defined by Radosavljević (2013) as “collective, creative, and collaborative”—enabled TSC to develop and model the type of caring and self-organized community and capacity development, per Nixon et al. (2008), that they envision for currently and formerly incarcerated women and their families and communities to create conditions for a just and equitable society. The ensemble way of working nurtured a sisterhood and enabled the exploration of individual and shared experiences of the trauma of incarceration, as well as overcoming systemic inequalities through higher education and career success in a safe and supportive space. Performing scenes and monologues developed from personal stories allows TSC to control its advocacy messages, challenge stereotypes, and create new narratives about the worth of formerly incarcerated people. Theater and post-performance discussions also enable ensemble members to model and employ their multilevel expertise: personal experience navigating the justice system; professional expertise in reentry, mental health and human services; and advocacy leadership.

Tese de Doutoramento em Estudos Artísticos na área de Estudos Teatrais e Performativos, apresentada à Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra
Este trabalho pretende constituir-se numa análise refletiva e crítica sobre o teatro como possibilidade de reinserção social de reclusos e reclusas: o teatro feito por reclusos e reclusas que se juntam a profissionais do teatro, atores e atrizes, fora do Estabelecimento Prisional, num espetáculo destinado a um público geral. Pretendese efetuar pesquisa sobre a atividade artístico-teatral, em contexto prisional ou a partir das prisões e desenhar um projeto de intervenção a implementar nos dois Estabelecimento Prisionais de Santa Cruz do Bispo, ala masculina e feminina, com vista à realização de um espetáculo que integre reclusos, reclusas e em trabalho conjunto com músicos e atores profissionais. Um espetáculo a apresentar não dentro da prisão, mas no exterior para um público geral. Verificando pela conclusão do meu mestrado em teatro sobre esta temática que não havia memória de uma iniciativa desta natureza, este projeto constitui-se como um meio privilegiado de reinserção social, desde que as portas das prisões se abram a iniciativas no exterior e as próprias pessoas estejam disponíveis para encarar e acolher reclusos e reclusas como cidadãos e cidadãs, como pessoas, às vezes ávidas de novas oportunidades.
This work intends to constitute a reflexive and critical analysis about theatre as a possibility of social reintegration of male and female inmates: theatre made by inmates in conjunction with theatre professionals, actors and actresses, outside the prison in a play intended for the general public. The objective is to carry out research on the artistic theatrical activity, inside the prison context or from it and to design an intervention project to be implemented in the two Prison Facilities of Santa Cruz do Bispo, male and female wings, aiming to perform a play integrating the inmates, which perform along with musicians and professional actors. The play is not to be made inside the prison, but outside and for the general public. From the research of my master's degree in theatre about this subject, it was possible to conclude that there was no memory of an initiative of this nature, so this project constitutes a privileged process of social reinsertion, provided that the prison’s doors are open to exterior initiatives and that the people themselves are available to face and welcome inmates as citizens and as people, sometimes eager for new opportunities.

This dissertation explores the effects of a Prison Theatre project conducted at the Youth Centre at Westville Correctional Centre in 2010. It explores the relationship between change and increased levels of Social Capital that staff and offenders attribute to the performances. The centre houses male offenders between the ages of 18 and 25. The project was of particular interest because it involved offenders, correctional staff and management. The plays were made using a problem-posing methodology that involved the audience in proposing solutions. These were documented and circulated to management, staff, and offenders. The plays addressed three topics. The first topic was chosen by the cast, and the other two topics were chosen by the management. The topics were: Increasing self-esteem in the Youth Centre (Chosen by offenders); No smoking policy (Chosen by management); Sexual assault (Chosen by management). I interviewed the cast, a sample of the audience, and correctional staff and managers. The data was analysed in terms of levels and elements of Social Capital (Putnam, 1995) and included Negative Social Capital. I have not found other examples of research in the field of Prison Theatre that have made use of concepts related to Social Capital to analyse the impact of theatre projects. This research therefore establishes a new area of focus for the field of Prison Theatre. The findings proved that the theatre project was an effective means of increasing communication between members of different gangs and between correctional staff and offenders in a non-threatening manner. This provided opportunities for changes in relations of power and increased problem solving in the correctional environment. As a result two systemic changes occurred. The staff provided feedback on offenders‟ requests and complaints and designated smoking areas were created. The findings demonstrate how notions of Social Capital can explain how theatre affects change in a correctional context because it focuses on social dynamics rather than systemic issues. This is important in a correctional environment where offender‟s ability to effect systemic change is limited.
Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

From 1999 until 2008 I worked with offenders making plays at Westville Medium B Correction Centre, using collective techniques to address social issues and involve the audience in debates. This work was inspired by the Southern African Theatre for Development of the 1980s. During 2002 and 2003 the offenders created and performed the two plays which form the case studies for this research. Isikhathi Sewashi (The Time of the Watch), presents their experiences of growing up under apartheid, political faction fighting, and crime and asks the audience to generate solutions to crime. Lisekhon’ Ithemba (There is Still Hope) addresses the prejudice of the correctional staff and offenders towards those living with HIV/AIDS. Offenders were involved in the research process and conducted group interviews with 110 members of the audience. I conducted interviews with 21 performers and used classical Grounded Theory to analyse the interviews. The theory that emerged demonstrates how the offenders, performers and audience used theatre to negotiate social relations. The plays negotiated the stereotyping of offenders, managed conflict, and increased care for offenders who were ill. Offenders also used the plays to negotiate power relations involving the correctional system and the numbers gangs. Collective play-making techniques allowed western and African aesthetics to combine. The aesthetics of Epic Theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed combined with those of isiZulu popular performance. The theories of Freire (1996:64), Brecht (in Willet 1964: 57) and Boal (1979:xix–xxi) had the intention of promoting actions and change of a social and political nature. Both Soyinka (1976: 51) and Kamlongera (n.d. 18-26) argue that theatre that engages an African worldview has its roots in social functions involving man and his environment. The offenders’ identification with characters and situations, their feelings of regret and self-pity, drove their critical engagement with the plays. They then formulated solutions and took action to effect change. Some of their actions challenged the authority of the correctional system and the numbers gang. The binary formulation of Aristotelian and non-Aristotelian theatre in the work of Brecht (in Willet 1964: 281) and Boal (2000: xix –xxi) is contradicted in this case study. Elements from both forms co-exist here. The audience’s responses to the plays reflect what Freire (1996:33) refers to as domesticating oppression but also demonstrate praxis which emerges as forms of resistance, and self-creation. The offenders’ potential to effect change in the correction centre, however, remains limited. My findings address current debates in the field of Prison Theatre (Thompson 1998:11 and Balfour 2004: 1-18) about the potential for theatre to effect change beyond offending behaviour and to include systemic change within the correctional system. Collective play-making provides offenders with a voice in the correction centre. The power of collective play-making is that cultural production remains in the hands of offenders and becomes a means through which they can expresses their concerns and sense of reality. Further research around collective play-making in other contexts and involving communities with different cultural resources is needed to validate the emergent theory presented here or to arrive at further reformulations.
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

What does it mean to be lawful in a secular age? Reincarnating Law in the Cosmos orbits around such a humanistic inquiry, offering a local contribution to a global jurisprudence by theorizing contemporary Indigenous and state laws in Canada in reciprocal relation to secular modernity. In this context, the study marks the first substantive engagement with Val Napoleon’s Ayook: Gitksan Legal Order, Law, and Legal Theory (2009). The study interprets Napoleon’s reification thesis on Gitxsan law and society as part of a historical disembedding process and evaluates it with reference to a 2016 pipeline agreement signed between a segment of Gitxsan hereditary leaders and the province of British Columbia. Translating Charles Taylor’s concept of excarnation for the legal sphere, it then expands upon Napoleon’s thesis by postulating the steady disembodying and disenchanting reduction of Gitxsan lawful life. To address this dilemma, the study supplements the active and reasoned sense of Gitxsan citizenship posited in Ayook by recasting it in phenomenological terms as a distinctly embodied form of legal agency. To clarify this aspect of agency, the study applies critical race feminist Preeti Dhaliwal’s legal research and playwriting method known as jurisprudential theatre. Dhaliwal’s method shapes the study in two significant ways. First, her impetus for developing the method draws from her own witnessing and overcoming of excarnation in the Canadian law school and immigration system, demonstrating it to be a larger problem traversing multi-juridical borders. To address this problem, the method, in turn, enables the innovation of a new Gitxsan concept of legal agency – the ‘wii bil’ust (giant star) – and an original drama that reveals the real-world struggle and heroism of reincarnating the Gitxsan legal order across generations over the past century. To encourage the broader reincarnation of law, and building on Jeremy Webber’s critique of the functionalist account of customary law, the study points towards a shared grammar of incarnational law. That is, a grammar deepened by embodied modes of relationality, reimagined cosmologies attuned to our earthly predicaments, and creative fluency in multiple languages and traditions, among other habitable zones.
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2021-07-14