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July 23, 2004
Art can't change world
Theatre can reinforce negative images, warns prof.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
If you want to make the world a better place through dramatic role-playing,
don't bother. You could make things worse. That's the dismal opinion
of a University of Haifa academic who warns that bringing international
conflict to the stage can entrench preconceived stereotypes and
create negative emotional climaxes.
Prof. Shifra Schonmann spoke last week at Simon Fraser University
in Burnaby on the subject Can Theatre Change Reality? The Arts in
the Context of Peace and Conflict.
Schonmann's academic work is in the field of theatre education and
she is head of theatre teacher training at Israel's University of
Haifa. Her books in English and Hebrew address imagery and performing
arts.
Schonmann warns that using dramatic techniques in situations of
hostility, like the Arab-Israeli conflict, can have precisely the
opposite of the desired effect.
"The common assumption is that if the students are involved
in the arts ... [activities] can lead to a learning and insight
that inspires people to make political or social change," said
Schonmann. Unfortunately, she has concluded, "Contact does
not always lead to positive change."
Face-to-face contact can lead to a "boomerang" effect,
she said, in which preconceived notions are not challenged but instead
reinforced.
The proximity of theatre and life can bring divisions into more
stark relief, while eclipsing commonalities, she said, amplifying
problems and reinforcing negative mental images.
Schonmann's pessimistic conclusions have come after years of classroom
study as well as social changes in Israel over the past several
years. During the interlude of relative peace from 1993 to 2000,
she said, a great deal of artistic work took place on the stage
and in the arts in Israel. The eventual collapse of the peace process
is one example of the failure of such artistic endeavors, said Schonmann,
who now calls the use of theatre for social change in conflict zones
"too naive."
Schonmann, who was present at the peace rally where the late Israeli
prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995, said that
catastrophe, along with the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the second
intifada and worldwide terrorism made her revisit her previous assumptions
about the value of the arts in a conflict situation. She cited the
extensive use of art and theatre in the Arab-Israeli conflict over
recent years and concluded it had contributed very little to peace.
Though she called into question the effect of the arts in making
social change, Schonmann acknowledged a long-term effect of art
on the spirit and mind. Theatre, she said, does have a role in altering
the self, which can lead to positive outcomes in the long-term.
"The power of art is not in the influence of direct action,"
she said. "Theatre cannot transform reality, nor should it."
Speaking to an audience that included drama teachers, Schonmann's
views were challenged in a question-and-answer session, during which
one participant suggested that determining cause and effect in the
social sciences is notoriously imprecise.
Schonmann's lecture was part of a wide-ranging two-week summer series
at SFU titled the Arts, Culture and Education Institute. Her July
13 presentation was the keynote address of a day dedicated to "art
and social change."
Following Schonmann's presentation, Vancouver artist Sima Elizabeth
Shefrin spoke about her Peace Quilt project, which has brought together
Jewish, Muslim and other participants to express their hopes for
peace through the traditional handicraft of quiltmaking. Since the
quilt was first displayed in Vancouver in 1999, it has toured North
America, most recently the New York area. It has also been the subject
of a Vision TV documentary.
"I think we are all learning how to create peace and reconciliation,"
Shefrin told the Bulletin. "And while every project
may not be 100 per cent successful, anywhere where people are trying
to truly listen to each other and understand each other's stories
has to be a step in the right direction."
Pat Johnson is a Vancouver journalist and commentator.
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