Environmental aesthetics, social engagement and aesthetic experiences in Central Asia

In this essay, I explore the Youth Theatre for Peace (YTP) project in relation to environmental aesthetics and engaged participatory practices towards tolerance building in Central Asia. My main argument is that cultural histories of storytelling, manas (an oral and now literary Kyrgyz epic) and trickster tales incorporate ideas and narratives that are useful in negotiating the ambiguities between differing moral, political and social agendas and can be drawn on in conflict negotiation contexts. I argue that environmental aesthetics offers a useful theoretical framework for analysing the YTP project due to the nomadic eco-spirituality and eco- consciousness of the region. Further, specific (embodied and emplaced) performing arts activities provide opportunities for communities to build longer-term strategies for engaging with and intervening in the political realities in which they live

Resistant acts in post-genocide Rwanda

Performances of justice and human rights have served as international platforms for truth-telling and nation-building both in the aftermath of apartheid in South Africa, and genocide in the case of Rwanda. There are moments of overlap between actual court proceedings, which can in their own right be deemed as a performance, and the use of theatre for dialogic negotiations between past atrocities and present juridical systems for reconstruction.1 Within the messy context of post-conflict reconstruction, speech often falters. Articulations of identities and speech acts become disjointed between personal and collective memories and identities; but are forced into the construction of juridical speech in the case of Rwanda’s gacaca courts. This essay will analyze how micro and macro sociopolitical dynamics are articulated in the gacaca courts used to adjudicate crimes linked to the 1994 genocide against Tutsi during which over 1 million Tutsi and Hutu moderates were massacred. I will illustrate how these different levels of power interact with each other through social performances (Alexander, 2011) and to extend the concept of faltered speech as artistic resistance (Scott, 1990)

MAP Kyrgyzstan - Baseline assessment (Bishkek oblast)

MAP Kyrgyzstan conducted a baseline assessment with young people (project participants) from Bishkek oblast to get a sense of their knowledge (e.g. community problems) and suggestions for change, and their impressions of the project

DRAFT - Policy brief - Unsanitary conditions of school toilets (Kyrgyzstan)

Members of the Young Researchers' Club from Secondary School B. Osmonov in Jalal-Abad city (Jalal-Abad oblast) wrote a draft policy on the unsanitary conditions of the school toilets. The draft underpins a number of concerns when using the toilets. The draft policy brief presents some recommendations to address the current situation

MAP Kyrgyzstan - Baseline assessment (Osh oblast)

MAP Kyrgyzstan conducted a baseline assessment with young people (project participants) from Osh oblast to get a sense of their knowledge (e.g. community problems) and suggestions for change, and their impressions of the project

MAP Kyrgyzstan - Baseline assessment (Jalal-Abad)

MAP Kyrgyzstan conducted a baseline assessment with young people (project participants) from Jalal-Abad to get a sense of their knowledge (e.g. community problems) and suggestions for change, and their impressions of the project

DRAFT - Policy brief - Violence against children of labour migrants (Kyrgyzstan)

This draft policy brief tackles the causes and consequences of mental and physical violence against children of labour migrants in Kyrgyzstan. It further provides recommendations to the local government, law enforcement agencies, and schools, among others. It was developed by members of the young researchers club from Secondary School No. 47 in Osh city (Osh oblast; Kyrgyzstan)

DRAFT - Policy brief - Lack of parental support and understanding (Kyrgyzstan)

Members of the young researchers' club from Secondary School #27 in Osh city (Osh oblast) developed a draft policy brief on the cause and consequences of parental neglect in Kyrgyzstan. The document presents recommendations to address the situation

DRAFT - Policy brief - School racketeering (Kyrgyzstan)

Members of the young researchers' club of Secondary School T. Ismailova in Aravan (Osh oblast; Kyrgyzstan) developed a draft policy brief to create awareness about child labour. The young researchers analysed the causes and consequences (‘conflict tree’) of forced child labour that affects schoolchildren. This so-called ‘school racketeering’ is committed by graduates who force schoolchildren to work in different homes or in the agricultural sector (i.e. taking over their work in the fields)