Description
Hate-speech and racism against Roma people has increased recently, especially in Eastern Hungary, among high school and university students. The aim of the project is to organize an open discourse on racism among high school students by talented Roma young adults performing their own “school failure” stories. The whole program teaches new active social roles and a related discourse on unjust schooling. Primary target group: students (17-18 years old) in so called “elite grammar schools”. Secondary target group: BA students in teacher training colleges and performer amateur actors Forum Theatre techniques offer the possibility for non-Roma students to think into the reasons why they have no Roma classmates. What are the causes and what are the potential outcomes of this situation? Local dramatic “answers” are discussed and publicized in the urban public sphere. This drama based intervention is designed and delivered in strong collaboration with KÁVA- Theatre in Education Company.
Summary of project results
Researches in recent years confirmed that the prejudices and racist speech against Roma people strengthened. Surveys about education showed that in the urban education systems the “segregated Roma schools” continue to exist. The main object of the program was to expand the former project of the organization into two more cities, so to make participants think about society and social differences with the help of participatory theatre. Before each performance interviews were recorded with school directors, educational experts and teachers; at the end a study was made. The project promoter elaborated a performance and during the project performed it in 8 secondary schools and in 2 colleges for 107 pedagogy students. Altogether 680 new people were involved and 6 Roma actors collaborated. Before and after questionnaires measured that the discriminative attitude of participants decreased with 22%.
Summary of bilateral results