"This Island's Mine": University Teaching as Inclusive Dramaturgy

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Braverman, Danny. 2022. "This Island's Mine": University Teaching as Inclusive Dramaturgy. In: Abby Day; Lois Lee; David S. P. Thomas and James Spickard, eds. Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonization: Practical Tools for Improving Teaching, Research and Scholarship. Bristol: Bristol University Press, pp. 64-80. ISBN 9781529216646 [Book Section]

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Abstract or Description

Despite an abundance of schemes in higher education, disabled students experience disadvantage. In general, the academy takes its lead from equality legislation and establishes specialist teams to address ‘access’. This places access plans and agreements, typically assembled from a list of mechanisms matched to impairments, at the heart of disabled students’ experiences. This chapter problematises this approach with reference to critical disability studies, exploring how the dominant learning culture of the academy aligns more to the medical than social model of disability. The author explores how possibilities for innovative teaching can be based in the praxis of the growing field of inclusive theatre, anchored in the affirmative model of disability (Swain & French, 2000) and ‘universal design’ (Center for Universal Design, 1997). Through a detailed description of a workshop run by the author on post-colonialism and The Tempest, new ways of working are examined. This practice is grounded on a framework that conceives learning events dramaturgically, where their design takes into account a group’s emotional journeys and their social-bonding as prerequisites for dialogic learning informed by critical pedagogy. Ultimately, the author proposes that the achievement of excellent teaching for all can mirror the best inclusive theatre practice, where access is built-in rather than bolted on, containing multiple points of entry whilst building a strong sense of community.

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