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From Apathy to Action: PromotingActive Citizenship and GlobalResponsibility amongst Populations inthe Global NorthErin K. WilsonPublished online: 07 Apr 2010.

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From Apathy to Action: Promoting Active Citizenshipand Global Responsibility amongst Populations in theGlobal North

ERIN K. WILSON!

Efforts to address social and global problems such as poverty, mass hunger and mass-atrocity crimes are hindered significantly by apathy and low levels of active civil andpolitical engagement amongst populations in developed countries. Social change non-government organisations (NGOs), such as Oxfam Australia, Oxfam Hong Kong andMedecins Sans Frontieres, have recently employed innovative, creative, experience-based strategies in their efforts to promote active citizenship and greater global respon-sibility amongst populations in the Global North. These techniques are based on two keyassumptions: that experiences change attitudes and that changes in behaviour will followchanges in attitudes. Yet the effectiveness of these newer techniques and the accuracy ofthe assumptions on which they are based remain largely untested. This article exploresthese assumptions and discusses the innovative, creative techniques that they have gen-erated in NGO public education efforts. The article examines the theoretical literature onthe problem of apathy and on the use of creative techniques to overcome apathy. It furtherdiscusses the practical application of these techniques through an examination of OxfamAustralia’s “Refugee Realities” project. This discussion is based on preliminary evalu-ation research conducted by Oxfam Australia and the author’s own experiences as anactor/volunteer on the project. The article suggests that creative, experience-basedpublic education strategies are effective in challenging and confronting public attitudestowards issues of global injustice. Further research is needed, however, to determinewhether these encounters result in long-term changes in attitudes and whether theycontribute to moving individuals and communities from apathy to action.

Globalisation has had dramatic effects on the structure and nature of global poli-tics and society, not the least of these being the rise of global civil society and emer-ging global ethics.1 Traditional state interests and power politics compete withhumanitarian concerns and cosmopolitan moral and ethical commitments thattranscend sovereign boundaries.2 This increasing sense of a global community

!The author is grateful to Steph Cousins, Oxfam Australia Humanitarian Advocacy Coordinator, forher comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this article.

1. Mary Kaldor, “The Idea of Global Civil Society”, International Affairs, Vol. 79, No. 3 (2003),pp. 583–593.

2. Scott Turner, “Global Civil Society, Anarchy and Governance: Assessing an Emerging Para-digm”, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 35, No. 1 (1998), pp. 25–42.

Global Society, Vol. 24, No. 2, April, 2010

ISSN 1360-0826 print/ISSN 1469-798X online/10/020275–22 # 2010 University of Kent

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united by shared moral values is connected with other aspects of recent rapidglobalisation. The increasing role and reach of mass media3 has led to greatercoverage and reporting on humanitarian emergencies, mass-atrocity crimes,poverty and other injustices that offend increasingly global moral sensibilities.4

Recent globalisation has also seen an increase in the numbers of non-governmentorganisations (NGOs) seeking to address human rights abuses and other globalinjustices.5 Building on the increased availability of information and media cover-age, these NGOs attempt to raise awareness and generate action amongst localpopulations to lobby governments and promote global action to address andrectify injustices.

Despite growing global morality, the emerging global civil society, the increasedavailability of knowledge about global injustice and the efforts of NGOs, apathyand political inaction, particularly in the Global North, remain significant pro-blems. Attempting to rectify injustices such as global poverty and hunger andprovide care for victims of mass-atrocity crimes are hindered significantly by alack of awareness and motivation to act amongst populations in developedcountries.6 Several authors have offered explanations for this apparent moralimmunity, citing “compassion fatigue” or “psychological numbing”, the construc-tion of mental barriers against problems that are morally challenging or upset-ting.7 These barriers provide the means for avoiding responsibility for or actingto address these injustices.

Much has been written on the problem of apathy of populations in developedcountries towards issues of global injustice, most notably by authors such asPeter Singer, Peter Unger, Thomas Pogge and Susan George. Yet there has beenlittle exploration or assessment of the practical methods utilised by socialchange organisations endeavouring to promote active global citizenshipamongst the individuals and communities of the Global North.

Development and social change NGOs regularly engage in advocacy and publiceducation activities around issues related to development and global justice indeveloped countries. These activities aim at raising awareness and generatingengagement and action on issues such as poverty, hunger and mass-atrocitycrimes. Continued widespread apathy of Global North populations has ledNGOs to adopt a model of change that supports the use of advocacy and publiceducation campaigns not just to raise awareness about the occurrence of global

3. Meagan Shaw, “Worth a Helping Hand?”, The Age (20 October 2005), available: ,http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/worth-a-helping-hand/2005/10/19/1129401314028.html. (accessed 3June 2009); Manfred Steger, Globalism: Market Ideology Meets Terrorism, 2nd edn (Lanham, MD andOxford: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), p. 38.

4. Susan Moeller, Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell War, Famine, Disease and Death (New York:Routledge, 1999), p. 35.

5. Kiyotera Tsutsui and Christine Min Wotpika, “Global Civil Society and the International HumanRights Movement: Citizen Participation in Human Rights International Nongovernmental Organiz-ations”, Social Forces, Vol. 83, No. 2 (2004), pp. 592–593.

6. Shaw, op. cit.; Ian Royall, “We’re Caring Less for the Vulnerable”, The Herald Sun, 29 February2008), available: ,http://global.factiva.com. (accessed 3 June 2009).

7. Moeller, op. cit., p. 35; Thomas Mertens, “International or Global Justice? Evaluating the Cosmo-politan Approach”, in Andreas Follesdal and Thomas Pogge (eds.), Real World Justice: Grounds, Prin-ciples, Human Rights and Social Institutions (Dordrecht: Springer, 2005), p. 102; Ashis Nandy, “TheBeautiful, Expanding Future of Poverty: Popular Economics as a Psychological Defense”, InternationalStudies Review, Vol. 4, No. 2 (2002), p. 111; Paul Slovic, “If I Look at the Mass I Will Never Act: PsychicNumbing and Genocide”, Judgement and Decision Making, Vol. 2, No. 2 (2007), p. 79.

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injustices but also to challenge and potentially alter attitudes, beliefs, behaviours,policies and practices that perpetuate inequality and injustice. In order to meetthese objectives, social change organisations have experimented with creativeand innovative social education techniques. These new approaches have devel-oped from the assumption that, firstly, experiences shape attitudes and, secondly,that changes in attitudes result in changes in behaviour.

Oxfam Australia’s recent Refugee Realities project provides an example of onesuch public education exhibition. The project made use of innovative, creative,experiential techniques, including participatory theatre, design, audio-visualengineering, music, dance and art. Refugee Realities aimed to educate school stu-dents and the broader Australian public about the experiences of refugees andabout the rights of displaced peoples in crisis situations. Individuals participatingin the exhibition went through simulated experiences of refugees in crisis, includ-ing fleeing conflict, travelling through dangerous terrain, encountering hostilemilitary and government officials and the daily challenges of life in a refugeecamp.

This article explores the use of innovative, creative, experiential techniques astools for overcoming apathy and promoting global responsibility amongst popu-lations in developed countries. I focus particularly on participatory theatre,acknowledging that this also frequently involves aspects of design and other crea-tive techniques. Using Oxfam Australia’s Refugee Realities production as a casestudy, I suggest that creative, experiential techniques, such as participatorytheatre, can be effective tools for encouraging social engagement and globalresponsibility. Experiential techniques such as participatory theatre can establishemotional connections between distant8 populations on moral issues that activatefeelings of empathy. Participatory theatre challenges the boundaries of individualand collective identities by creating a sense of connection through shared experi-ence. Further, participatory theatre provides people with an experience that canmake distant and unknown or unfamiliar issues real. Having experienced thereality (or some small part of the reality) of injustice, people are more inclinedto act, even if only in some small way. The effectiveness of participatory theatresuggests that other techniques which promote active participation and simulatedexperiences inviting or requiring individual response would also be effective toolsin promoting active global citizenship on issues of injustice.

I begin by discussing the problem of apathy. I focus on the explanations of com-passion fatigue and psychological numbing offered by recent authors and exploreemerging suggestions concerning how to transcend these mental and emotionalbarriers. I then discuss the move by social change organisations to utilise moreexperiential, creative techniques in public education and advocacy. I discuss arange of techniques, but focus primarily on participatory theatre. I then providea detailed discussion of Refugee Realities, including background information,description of scenes and processes from the exhibition and preliminary findingsof research conducted to assess the impact of the innovative, creative techniquesutilised in the exhibition. I conclude by discussing future directions for theresearch. In this discussion, I make use of information from Oxfam Australia’sevaluation report on the project, which used survey, Internet and interview dataas well as solicited and unsolicited written feedback from participants. Following

8. “Distance” here is understood in both physical and emotional terms.

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Haedicke’s approach, I also include my own reflections and observations as avolunteer performer on the project.9

The Problem of Apathy

Apathy and political inaction are problems frequently lamented by social changetheorists and practitioners. Efforts to address global injustices such as poverty,mass hunger and mass-atrocity crimes are hindered significantly by a lack ofawareness and active engagement amongst populations in developed countries.Public intellectuals such as Peter Singer, Peter Unger, Susan George andThomas Pogge10 have all discussed the moral imperative that exists for wealthypopulations in developed countries to act to aid destitute populations in theglobal South. These public intellectuals use blunt examples to demonstrate thismoral imperative, likening inaction towards disease, poverty and death in theglobal South to walking past a drowning child and doing nothing to save them.11

Despite these compelling moral arguments that have been made continuallyover the last 30–40 years, wealthy populations in the Global North for the mostpart continue to ignore the “silent emergencies” occurring in the developingworld. These silent emergencies are not impossible to resolve or too overwhelm-ing to address. Rather, those with the capability (political or financial or both) toact to address these injustices lack the political and ethical will to do so.12 Thissuggests that issues of power and privilege are central to understandings ofhow injustices occur and how they can be addressed.13 Thus, ideological assump-tions about power and privilege form an important background to how peoplethink about and respond to issues of global injustice.14 These deeply held, oftensubconscious assumptions about relationships of power and privilege in globalpolitics offer one avenue through which to explain the ongoing apathy and inac-tion of populations in the Global North on issues of global injustice.

Recent authors have referred to the phenomenon of psychological numbing inrelation to this lack of political and moral action.15 People erect psychological bar-riers against problems or issues that are particularly challenging or upsetting,thereby avoiding having to deal with the problem or take responsibility for it.These psychological barriers prevent individuals and communities from having

9. Susan C. Haedicke, “The Politics of Participation: ‘Un Voyage pas Comme les Autres sur lesChemins de L’Exil’”, Theatre Topics, Vol. 12, No. 2 (2002), pp. 99–100, 106.

10. Peter Singer, “Famine, Affluence and Morality”, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1972),pp. 229–243; Peter Singer, The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty (New York: RandomHouse, 2009); Peter Unger, Living High and Letting Die: Our Illusion of Innocence (Oxford: Oxford Univer-sity Press, 1995); Susan George, How the Other Half Dies: The Real Reasons for World Hunger (Harmonds-worth: Penguin, 1986); Thomas Pogge, World Poverty and Human Rights, 2nd edn (Cambridge: PolityPress, 2008).

11. Unger, op. cit., pp. 8–10.12. George, “A Short History of Neoliberalism: Twenty Years of Elite Economics and Emerging

Opportunities for Structural Change”, in Francois Houtart and Francois Polet (eds.), The OtherDavos: The Globalization of Resistance to the World Economic System (London and New York: ZedBooks, 2001), p. 16.

13. Vicente M. Lechuga, Laura Norman Clerc and Abigail K. Howell, “Power, Privilege, and Learn-ing: Facilitating Encountered Situations to Promote Social Justice”, Journal of College Student Develop-ment, Vol. 50, No. 2 (2009), p. 229.

14. Ibid., p. 230.15. Nandy, op. cit., p. 111; Mertens, op. cit., p. 102.

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to rethink their assumptions about power and privilege and their own role inongoing global injustices. Global poverty, mass hunger, disease and mass-atrocitycrimes all challenge individual and community assumptions about power andmorality that are an intimate part of their sense of identity.16

Psychological numbing refers to the ability of people to construct psychologicalbarriers against issues that are particularly traumatic or morally challenging.17

Robert J. Lifton took the term from psychology and used it within politicalscience to refer to how the general public dealt with the potential for nuclearholocaust during the Cold War.18 Recently, Nandy, Mertens and Slovic haveall used this term in relation to inaction by Global North populations onpoverty, hunger, mass-atrocity crimes such as genocide, and environmentalproblems such as climate change.19 Moeller and others have also referred to thisas “compassion fatigue”.20

Discussing why wealthy populations in the Global North fail to provide ade-quate assistance for populations in the global South, Mertens argues that thisoccurs because no personal connection has been established between peopleliving in relative privilege and those who are experiencing poverty and injustice.21

He quotes Bauman who suggests that morality alone is unable “to bridge too longdistances”.22 People feel morally compelled to act on behalf of those they can seeor have a personal connection with but not those with whom they are not closelyassociated. Mertens states “morality teaches me to take responsibility for peoplewho are close to me, both in the territorial and the emotional sense of theword”.23 When there is no such immediate connection, the impulse to act onbehalf of those experiencing injustice recedes.

In cases where the lives of others are removed and sealed off from ourlives by a series of wicked administrative measures or because they lit-erally live at so far distance that it seems almost impossible to imagineourselves in their position, the voice of morality can be silenced.24

Mertens’ argument is supported by observations from chief executives of develop-ment NGOs and public opinion researchers, who suggest that Global Northpopulations donate and/or campaign on behalf of people and communitieswho most closely resemble themselves.25

16. Peter Singer, “The Singer Solution to World Poverty”, New York Times Sunday Magazine(5 September 1999), pp. 60–63; Lechuga et al., op. cit., p. 229.

17. Charles R. Figley, “Compassion Fatigue as Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder: An Over-view”, in Charles R. Figley (ed.), Compassion Fatigue: Coping with Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorderin Those Who Treat the Traumatized (London and New York: Brunner-Routledge, 1995), pp. 1–20;Nandy, op. cit., p. 111.

18. Robert J. Lifton, “Beyond Psychic Numbing: A Call to Awareness”, American Journal of Orthop-sychiatry, Vol. 52, No. 4 (1982), pp. 619–630.

19. Nandy, op. cit., p. 111; Mertens, op. cit., p. 102; Slovic, op. cit., p. 79.20. Moeller, op. cit., p. 35; Shaw, op. cit.21. Mertens, op. cit., p. 101.22. Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust (Oxford: Polity Press, 1989) cited in Mertens, op.

cit., p. 101.23. Ibid.24. Ibid.25. Shaw, op. cit.

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Ashis Nandy makes a similar point in relation to global poverty. Immense con-tradictions exist in the allocation of funds and spending habits within developedcountries in the face of extreme poverty, mass hunger and starvation, diseaseand other dire yet not unsolvable problems facing the global South. Nandynotes that “‘normal’ middle-class citizens, especially those belonging to theliberal-democratic tradition, are uncomfortable with these paradoxes”.26 Ratherthan addressing them or working through them, however, people tend tosimply ignore them, “push them under the carpet through various psychologicalsubterfuges”.27 Wealthy middle- and upper class populations in the Global Northhave the luxury of being able to push these concerns to the side because they arenot directly, immediately or personally confronted with these dire situations. Thisprevents them from having to alter their purchasing habits, their lifestyles, theirlevel of political engagement and activism or their assumptions about and atti-tudes towards global injustice.

These theoretical arguments concerning apathy and psychological numbing/compassion fatigue and how to overcome them are supported by recent researchin education and the arts. Evidence from school-based educational researchsuggests that experiential, interactive learning is an effective means for engagingstudents and educating them on issues such as justice and environmentalsustainability.28 This style of learning also provides students with fundamentalknowledge about power, privilege and oppression that is significant for under-standing and responding to issues of injustice.29 Visual arts and design havebeen identified as significant devices for engaging people on issues of socialand global injustice. McDonaugh and Braungart note that “design is a signal ofintent”.30 How we design objects and represent concepts and issues visually sig-nifies the ideological assumptions underpinning our current approaches to theseissues and concepts. As well as providing visual representation of issues of injus-tice, design and creative expression has the potential to translate seemingly objec-tive scientific information and knowledge into sensory experiences that arevisually, emotionally and morally challenging.31 Participation in creative designprojects can also be empowering and encourage people towards greater engage-ment with social issues and more active citizenship.32 Similar arguments havebeen made concerning theatre,33 especially participatory theatre, discussedfurther below.

26. Nandy, op. cit., p. 111.27. Ibid.28. Bernard Cox, Margaret Calder and John Fien, “Experiential Learning”, in Teaching and Learning

for a Sustainable Future, Version 4.0 (Paris: UNESCO), CD-ROM and website: ,http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/TLSF/theme_d/uncofrm_d.htm ., 2005 (accessed 8 April 2009).

29. Lechuga et al., op. cit., p. 230.30. William McDonaugh and Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

(New York: Northpoint Press, 2002), p. 9. I am grateful to Philip Monsbourgh for recommending thistext.

31. Janine Randerson, “Between Reason and Sensation: Antipodean Artists and Climate Change”,Leonardo, Vol. 40, No. 5 (2007), p. 443.

32. Kim Miller, “Iconographies of Gender, Poverty, and Power in Contemporary South AfricanVisual Culture”, NWSA Journal, Vol. 19, No. 1 (2007), p. 118.

33. Miriam Cosic, “Drama Drenched in Humanity”, The Australian (14 October 2005), available:,http://global.factiva.com. (accessed 3 June 2009); Susan Leigh Foster, “Choreographies ofProtest”, Theatre Journal, Vol. 55, No. 3 (2003), pp. 395–412; Baz Kershaw, “Curiosity or Contempt:On Spectacle, the Human, and Activism”, Theatre Journal, Vol. 55, No. 4 (2003), pp. 591–611.

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For decades, social change organisations have tried a variety of public edu-cation methods aimed at breaking down these psychological barriers and promot-ing active engagement. These efforts are important, as human agency and activecitizenship on critical moral and political issues have high potential for significantinfluence on policy and practice in global politics.34 Traditionally, social changeorganisations have employed public engagement tools such as mail-outs, letter-writing campaigns, magazines, posters and other print media, and events suchas protests, festivals, exhibitions and global days of action. Yet the continuedapathy or ignorance of the majority of citizens in the Global North raises questionsabout the efficacy, both immediate and long term, of these traditional engagementmethods for promoting active global citizenship.

As a result of the seeming ineffectiveness of these traditional public educationand advocacy methods and in light of the research in education, design, art andtheatre, social change organisations have implemented new techniques aimed atengaging the general public on issues of poverty and injustice. These innovativeand typically interactive methods utilise recently developed technologies andthe creative and visual arts to promote active engagement amongst populationsin the Global North. Such methods involve interactive websites incorporatingblogging, wikis and personalised graphics to accompany campaigns, non-tra-ditional visual communications as well as interactive experiences such as partici-patory theatre and simulation.

The principal difference between traditional and non-traditional techniques isthe level of engagement they encourage from citizens. Traditional methods aregenerally non-reciprocal, providing information to citizens and inviting them toact in response, but not directly involving them or engaging with them. Non-tra-ditional techniques are much more interactive, requiring citizens to directly par-ticipate at some level, to become “active”. These newer interactive techniquesare developed on the basis of two assumptions: (1) that experiences shape atti-tudes; and (2) changes in attitudes facilitate changes in behaviour and promoteactive engagement with issues of public morality and justice.35 These assumptionsare supported by much of the philosophical and theoretical literature on com-passion fatigue and psychological numbing. To date, however, there is littleempirical evidence that demonstrates the practical validity of these assumptions.

Participatory Theatre and Social Activism

Theatre has been used in efforts to raise awareness about a host of socialand political ills. These range from political and social stigma associated withHIV/AIDS sufferers, development, refugees and asylum seekers, mental illnessand numerous others.36 Theatre of the Oppressed, pioneered by AugustoBoal,37 is perhaps one of the most famous examples. Foster also suggests that

34. Roland Bleiker, Popular Dissent, Human Agency and Global Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-versity Press, 2000).

35. Anna Powell, Oxfam Australia Youth Engagement Programs Manager, pers. comm., Teleconfer-ence on Active Citizenship, August 2008.

36. Foster, op. cit., p. 396.37. Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed translated from the Spanish by Charles A. & Maria-Odilia Leal

McBride and Emily Fryer, New edn. (London: Pluto Press, 2000).

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non-violent change methods such as sit-ins, street marches and other non-violentforms of protest contain an element of performance that contributes to theireffectiveness.38

Various theories abound as to why theatre is an effective tool for social change.Kershaw suggests that theatre is able to influence people’s understanding andexperience of the human. It does this, in modern society at least, primarilythrough creating spectacle that attracts attention and challenges people’smorals, sense of self and sense of relationship with others.39 Schinina supportsthis idea, arguing that “the value of theatre does not lie in its capacity to empha-size what unifies human beings, but rather in its potential to emphasize theirdifferences and to create bridges between them”.40

Theatre can be both visually and audibly confronting. Because it occurs within aconfined space, theatre forces people to address these challenges and confronta-tions, at least for the duration of the performance. Added to this is the experienceof the performance. Theatre will often generate an emotional reaction in people byinviting them, if only passively, to take part in the reality they are presented with.People will often then take the emotions and thought processes experiencedduring the viewing of the performance away with them afterwards, discussingthem with friends and family, pondering the thoughts and emotions generatedwithin themselves for some time to come. Anecdotal evidence suggests that theattitudes and behaviours of individuals may then be altered and changedthrough particularly powerful theatrical performances (the same is also true forother art forms, such as dance, literature, paintings and sculptures).41

This confrontational aspect of theatre is compounded in participatory theatre,which is physically confronting as well as visually, audibly and emotionally chal-lenging and engaging.42 The lines between audience and actor are blurred asspectators become participants in the theatrical spectacle.43 Participants or“spect-actors”44 become personally located within the theatrical experience, phys-ically and emotionally, by being asked to take on the persona of a character withinthe action.45 Throughout the course of the performance, they are personallyaffected by the action, thinking and feeling in response to the events of the per-formance, often in character but also frequently as themselves. This can generateeven deeper personal emotional connections with the theatrical experience thanoccurs through passive viewings of theatrical performances.

Development and social change organisations have begun to utilise participa-tory theatre in efforts to raise social awareness and engagement. This use of par-ticipatory theatre has been based on the assumptions that experiences shapeattitudes and that shifts in attitudes will lead to changes in behaviour. Promenade

38. Foster, op. cit., pp. 396–397.39. Kershaw, op. cit., p. 594.40. Guglielmo Schinina, “Social Theatre and Some Open Questions about its Development”, The

Drama Review, Vol. 48, No. 3 (2004), p. 17.41. On drama, see Cosic, op. cit.; Kershaw, op. cit., p. 592; Schinina, op. cit., p. 17; on artwork, see

McDonaugh and Braungart, op. cit., p. 9; Randerson, op. cit., p. 443.42. Haedicke, op. cit., p. 104.43. Ibid., p. 102.44. Ibid.45. Ibid., p. 99; Branislav Jakovljevic, “Theatre of War in the Former Yugoslavia: Event, Script,

Actors”, The Drama Review, Vol. 43, No. 3 (1999), p. 7.

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theatre, a particular type of participatory theatre,46 has been used by a number oforganisations in simulating experiences of people living with and through variousinjustices. Promenade theatre walks participants or “spect-actors” through theaction, exposing them to various physical locations as well as events, forcingthem to make decisions in character that could affect their survival.47 AsCondee notes, as well as having emotional responses to the material within theperformance, in promenade theatre “the audience has a kinaesthetic response tothe performance” as well.48 This type of theatre has been used by the City ofPort Phillip in Melbourne to raise awareness of social issues surrounding drugaddiction and prostitution specifically in St Kilda,49 as well as by social changeorganisations around the world on a variety of issues. Notable examplesinclude the Medecins Sans Frontieres Refugee Camp simulation run in CentralPark in New York in 2006,50 subsequently taken on tour throughout NorthAmerica and produced in Australia in late 2008 and 2009,51 the CIRE (Coordi-nation et Initiatives pour Refugies et Etrangers) production Un Voyage pasComme les Autres sur les Chemins de L’Exil in Paris,52 Oxfam Hong Kong, that hasestablished an Interactive Education Centre using theatre and other techniquesto produce simulations on a variety of issues including fair trade, refugees andinternational labour rights,53 and refugee experience simulation kits developedby Red Cross Canada, Canadian Foodgrains Bank and Canadian LutheranWorld Relief.54

It is important to emphasise that participatory theatre itself is not a new tech-nique. What is new and innovative is that social change organisations, ratherthan actors or theatre companies, are employing participatory theatre and othercreative, experiential devices in their efforts to promote active citizenship andglobal responsibility. Previous examples of participatory theatre focused onsocial change have been driven by actors, directors, scriptwriters and othersinvolved in theatre and the arts. These new projects, like Oxfam Australia’sRefugee Realities, are being driven by NGOs and by people with little to noexposure to or involvement with the performing arts.

46. William Condee, Theatrical Space: A Guide for Directors and Designers (Lanham, MD: ScarecrowPress, 1995), ch. 14: “Environmental and Promenade Theatre”, pp. 169–184.

47. Alison Griffiths, “‘Journey for Those Who Cannot Travel’: Promenade Cinema and the MuseumLife Group”, Wide Angle, Vol. 18, No. 3 (1996), p. 54, fn. 5; Haedicke, op. cit., p. 101.

48. Condee, op. cit., p. 180.49. Robyn Szechtman, pers. comm., March 2008; City of Port Phillip, “Back by Popular Demand –

Habits of the Heart”, available: ,http://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/attachments/o27391.pdf.(accessed 11 June 2009); Martin Mulligan, Kim Humphrey, Paul James, Christopher Scanlon, PiaSmith and Nicky Welch, Creating Community: Celebrations, Arts and Wellbeing within and across Local Com-munities (Melbourne: The Globalism Institute, 2006), p. 83.

50. Medecins Sans Frontieres, “A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City”, available: ,http://www.refugeecamp.org/home/. (accessed November 2008).

51. Medecins Sans Frontieres Australia, “Refugee Camp in Your City”, available: ,http://refugeecamp.msf.org.au/. (accessed 5 June 2008).

52. Haedicke, op. cit., p. 99.53. Oxfam Hong Kong, “Oxfam Hong Kong Interactive Education Centre”, available: ,http://

www.oxfam.org.hk/public/contents/category?cid¼8951&lang¼iso-8859-1. (accessed May 2009).54. Canadian Red Cross, Canadian Foodgrains Bank and Canadian Lutheran World Relief, “In

Exile for a While: A Refugee’s Experience for Canadian Youth”, Red Cross Canada, available:,http://www.redcross.ca/cmslib/general/inexileforawhilekit.pdf. (accessed 5 June 2009).

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Little known or publicly accessible evaluation is available concerning the effec-tiveness of these projects for changing attitudes and altering behaviours. Yet suchevaluations are important for determining whether innovative, creative, experien-tial techniques are useful advocacy and social education tools.

The Oxfam Australia production Refugee Realities is different in this respect. Aconcerted effort was made by Oxfam Australia to collect statistical as well as anec-dotal data with which to assess the effectiveness of the project. These data, whileby no means definitive and conclusive, provide some indication of the utility ofcreative, innovative, experiential techniques for shaping attitudes and changingbehaviours around issues of global injustice.

Background to Refugee Realities

The Refugee Realities project was conceived as a social education tool in line withOxfam International’s Strategic Plan for 2007–2012. The Strategic Plan outlineda commitment to “rights in crisis”, focusing on Oxfam’s role in ensuring menand women in humanitarian crisis situations receive the assistance and protectionto which they are entitled under international law.55 The Strategic Plan alsoemphasised the role of Oxfam in promoting active citizenship, humanitarianadvocacy and government accountability. These goals were incorporated intoOxfam Australia’s Strategic Plan for 2007–2013.56 Refugee Realities specificallyaddressed the rights-in-crisis component of both Strategic Plans. The principalaim of Refugee Realities was to educate a broad cross-section of the Australianpublic about refugee rights and experiences, so as to encourage public engage-ment and activism on refugee rights and humanitarian crisis issues.57 It was apilot event, the first of its kind to be run in Australia.58

The project was conceived amidst the waning years of the Howard governmentin Australia. Policy on asylum seekers and refugees had been highly controversialunder the prime ministership of John Howard. The Howard government’s immi-gration policy was characterised by a hardline stance against asylum seekers andthe development of the “Pacific Solution”, a system of offshore detention andprocessing of asylum claims.59 The Pacific Solution was widely criticised, bothdomestically and internationally. The United Nations High Commission for Refu-gees (UNHCR) argued that the policy violated established international law, inparticular the Refugee Convention.60 Domestically, the Foreign Affairs, Defence

55. Oxfam International, Demanding Justice: Oxfam International Strategic Plan 2007–2012, available:,http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/oi_strategic_plan_2007_0.pdf. (accessedAugust 2007), p. 8.

56. Oxfam Australia, For a Just World without Poverty: Oxfam Australia Strategic Plan 2007–2013,available: ,http://www.oxfam.org.au/about/strategic_plan/. (accessed June 2008), p. 11.

57. Stephanie Cousins, Masahiro Kihata, Erin Wilson, Lyn Wan, Brendan Ross, Denise Cauchi andCressida McDonald, Refugee Realities Project Evaluation (Melbourne: Oxfam Australia, 2008), available:,http://www.oxfam.org.au/refugee/learning/docs/RRP_Evaluation%20_Summary_%20FINAL.pdf.(accessed June 2008), p. 5.

58. Ibid., p. 38.59. Karin von Strokirch, “The Region in Review: International Issues and Events, 2003”, The Con-

temporary Pacific, Vol. 16, No. 2 (2004), p. 370.60. Tara Magner, “A Less than ‘Pacific’ Solution for Asylum Seekers in Australia”, International

Journal of Refugee Law, Vol. 16, No. 1 (2004), pp. 53, 56.

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and Trade References Committee (FADTRC) argued that the “Pacific Solution”lacked transparency and had the potential for a long-term detrimental impacton social cohesion and political stability.61 The FADTRC also suggested that thepolicy generated negative perceptions about Australia within the Asia-Pacificand globally.62 The Pacific Solution was official government policy from thetime of the Tampa crisis in 2001 until the election of the Rudd government inNovember 2007. The new government formally ended the policy in Decemberof 2007, although questions continue to be asked about the Rudd government’sstance on asylum seekers.63

Both anecdotal and documented evidence suggests that the Pacific Solutionpolicy both contributed to and was supported because of widespread prejudicewithin the Australian community towards asylum seekers or “queue jumpers”,particularly asylum seekers from Arabic backgrounds.64 Von Strokirch arguesthat the Pacific Solution “was a thinly veiled attempt to capitalize on the xeno-phobia of many Australians”,65 an attitude prominent within Australia sincethe “White Australia” policy of the 1950s. Although the Pacific Solution receivedstrong electoral support during the early years of the new millennium, thissupport waned in the final two years of the Howard government.66

Although the political and social context against which Refugee Realities was con-ceived, developed and implemented is important to bear in mind, it must be empha-sised that Refugee Realities was not a campaign or an attempt to lobby government forchange. Oxfam Australia was careful not to include any direct criticism of govern-ment policy within the exhibition. Refugee Realities also did not attempt to persuadeparticipants in the exhibition to join government lobby groups or to protest againstgovernment policy through other avenues. Refugee Realities was much broader inscope, seeking to educate and alter assumptions and attitudes about refugees andrefugee experiences. The project had four specific principal aims:

1. Educate a broad cross-section of the Australian public about;—the rights of displaced peoples in crisis situations, and the respon-

sibilities of governments and the international community toprotect those rights;

—the challenging and traumatic experiences displaced peoplescommonly face.

2. Develop greater understanding and support for refugees in Australia,and strengthen public celebration of refugee contributions to thenation.

3. Empower former refugees and their communities in Australia and facili-tate collaboration and long-term links between various communities.

61. Von Strokirch (2004), op. cit., p. 370.62. Cited in ibid., p. 370.63. “Detention Still Poses Problem”, The Canberra Times (22 December 2008), available: ,http://

global.factiva.com. (accessed 2 June 2009).64. Victoria Mason, “Strangers within the ‘Lucky Country’: Arab-Australians after September 11”,

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. 24, No. 1 (2004), pp. 233–243.65. Karin von Strokirch, “The Region in Review: International Issues and Events, 2001”, The Con-

temporary Pacific, Vol. 14, No. 2 (2002), p. 433.66. I. Yusuf, “Go Back to Where You Never Came From”, The Canberra Times (28 November 2005),

available: ,http://global.factiva.com. (accessed 3 June 2009).

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4. Develop a supporter base for greater funding and resources for humani-tarian response activities (by demonstrating the positive work ofhumanitarian agencies in the field).67

Campaigning and lobbying were not a direct focus of the overall goals of theproject. By focusing on these aims, the Refugee Realities project sought, in somemeasure, to engage with, challenge and potentially alter the observed “xenopho-bia of many Australians”.68

Planning for the event began in May of 2007, with initial efforts put into seekingsponsorships, donations and grants to support the project.69 The project coordina-tor was employed in August–September 2007.70 I became involved as a volunteerin late September 2007, initially assisting with seeking sponsorship and later as anactor. A scriptwriter was engaged to develop the script for the actors and internswere recruited to assist with various different aspects of the design and planningfor the project. A number of reference groups were assembled as well, consistingof teachers and representatives from other organisations that work with refugees,particularly the Australian Red Cross, the Canberra Office of UNHCR and theAsylum Seekers Resource Centre in Melbourne. These reference groups contribu-ted to the development of teaching resources (including a semester-long curricu-lum on refugees and an education kit designed specifically to prepare classes forparticipation in the simulation) and provided input for the shape and focus of theproject itself.71

In late 2007, recruitment of event volunteers began. A large number ofvolunteers were required for the technical, design and logistical componentof the project as well as volunteer actors. Production of the set began almostimmediately, while rehearsals for the performances began in early 2008.

Although a script was written before rehearsals started, much of the develop-ment of the script occurred through the rehearsal process. As actors walkedthrough the various stages of the performance, questions arose about the clarityof certain components of the script for the principal target audience (mainlyschoolchildren aged 10–15) and the actual logistics of performing various partsof the script to fit within the timeframe of the tours (approximately one-and-a-half to two hours) and manage the layout of the set. There needed to be adegree of flexibility with the script so as to cater for different age groups (adultmembers of the general public as opposed to school students, for example). Theactors also needed the confidence and skill to be able to improvise and dealeffectively and innovatively with problems and challenges as they arose.

Advertising for the event particularly emphasised the element of personalexperience. The event website, posters, postcards and T-shirts worn by volunteersall presented the question “How Would You Survive?” By posing a direct questionto otherwise passive observers, the advertising for the event sought to engage andconfront people immediately with the refugee experience. This question also insome ways challenged identities of participants as well as reshaping the identities

67. Cousins et al., op. cit., p. 4.68. Von Strokirch (2002), op. cit., p. 433.69. Steph Cousins, Refugee Realities Project Coordinator, pers. comm., September 2007.70. Brendan Ross, Oxfam Humanitarian Advocacy manager, pers. comm., August 2007.71. Steph Cousins, pers. comm., October 2007; Oxfam Australia, “Refugee Realities Learning Space”,

available: ,http://www.oxfam.org.au/refugee/learning/teachers/index.php. (accessed June 2008).

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of the refugees and the perceptions of refugees by participants. Instead of beingseen as victims requiring pity, or as “queue jumpers”, refugees were cast as survi-vors, people deserving respect, admiration and understanding for what they hadexperienced and lived through. By challenging individual participants with thisquestion, their sense of self was also challenged and they were forced to considerthis question throughout the simulation experience—if this were really happeningto me, how would I survive?

Performing Refugee Realities

The script for Refugee Realities took participants through various stages of therefugee experience. Before entering the simulation, participants were assembledin a room called the “Timeline Exhibition”. This room contained a display ofrefugee movements to Australia and some information about international politi-cal developments directly affecting refugees from 1900 up until the present day.Participants had a few moments to peruse this information before beginning thepre-tour orientation. As part of the orientation, tour participants were dividedinto four family groups (Azra, Brum, Caze and Deng) and given lanyards thatassigned them particular identities and roles within that family, such as father,mother, uncle, grandmother and child. Tour guides (the principal actors for thetours) emphasised the importance of looking after family members and stayingtogether. On the back of each lanyard was an SOS sign that participants wereinstructed to show if at any point they found the simulation too distressing.Participants were then given some background on refugees—who was considereda refugee, what caused people to become refugees and some of the challengesthat refugees face.

Participants were then taken into the simulation. The first scene of the simu-lation placed groups in a home. The room was designed to look like a homethat might be found anywhere in the world, with different cultural influencesand everyday objects such as a table, shelves, cooking utensils, a fridge, bedand so on. Participants were then taken through a series of questions designedto get them to actively take on the persona they had been assigned before thesimulation. The tour guide asked what their role in the household might be,what items in the room they might use in performing their role and what theydid every day. Tour guides then asked participants to consider what would bemost important to them if they had to leave their home in a hurry, what theywould take with them and what they would do in the event of a war, whetherthey would run or whether they would try and hide and hope not to be found.The discussion aimed to establish relationships amongst the various familymembers and give them a sense of belonging and ownership over the homeand the household items. Creating this sense of attachment was important forwhat was to follow. If participants felt some connection to each other and to theroom and the items in the room, the sense of loss and disconnection that refugeesexperienced when forced to flee their home would be felt more acutely by the par-ticipants when they were faced with separation from their (simulated) family andfleeing their (simulated) home.

While this discussion was taking place, an audio track played in the backgroundwith everyday sounds from around the home—running water, songs on the radio,

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daily household chatter. After approximately seven minutes, allowing time for thequestions and discussion, the ordinary household sounds were interruptedabruptly by the sound of gunshots. Sometimes the tour guide actor would pointout the sounds to the participants; sometimes participants themselves noticedthe sounds and asked the tour guide what it meant. The tour guide actor thenurged participants to gather their family close together and lie on the ground tokeep safe. The sounds intensified, with sirens, screams, children crying, thenoise of people running and increased sounds of conflict, culminating in thesound of a large explosion, followed by silence. After a few moments, the tourguide confirmed that everyone was alright and then informed the group thatthey must separate, with half the participants staying and hiding in the houseand the other half fleeing. The nametags given to participants at the beginningof the simulation had either a “1” or “2” next to the family name. Those with a“1” next to their name fled the house. Those with a “2” next to their namestayed in the house to hide. This division split each family group. Usually themembers of each of the simulated families were, in real life, either familymembers or close friends. This real attachment combined with the simulatedfamily attachment served to intensify the sense of separation, loss and uncertaintyas the groups were forced to pursue different actions.

Once separated, the tour guide led the first group from the room to begin theirjourney. The group “travelled” through a “jungle”, with gunshots and animalnoises in the background. The lighting used in the jungle also created heat,which contributed to the atmosphere. The actor playing the tour guide wascrucial in creating a sense of urgency for the journey, the need to be cautiousand aware so as to avoid being discovered by soldiers. With school groups,teachers also played a major part in encouraging students to fully participate inthe simulation.

Once through the jungle, participants next had to cross a minefield. Beforeentering the minefield, the tour guide talked to the participants about thedangers refugees encounter on their journey and the need to constantly becareful and aware. To minimise unnecessary trauma, the tour guide also gentlyreminded participants that this was “just a simulation” rather than a real-lifeminefield.

The minefield was made to look like a desert wasteland, covered in sand, withrusted abandoned weaponry around the room. A constant audio track playedwith wind howling and occasional sounds of battle to emphasise the desolatenessof the location. A visual track also played showing images of refugees fleeing fromconflicts. There were some information points set up around the room, givingdetails of the number of small arms sold throughout the world each year, statisticson injuries caused by land mines, particularly to children, and other conflict-related information. The room was set up with a number of triggers onthe floor, hidden by the sand. When participants stepped on these triggers, thesound of a landmine exploding would be heard and a small device onthe ground would be activated that would send a badge flying into the air. Thebadge had a symbol on it indicating a type of injury (a sling for an arm injury, acrutch for a leg injury and an eyepatch for an eye injury). The person whostepped on the trigger and set off the mine would then be told to wear thebadge to indicate that they had been injured. The rest of the members of theirfamily would have to assist that person along the rest of the journey.

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After they crossed the minefield, the tour guide informed participants that theymust now travel at night. Refugees often travel at night, as it is safer than duringthe day. Participants were handed blindfolds and told to put them on and thenassemble in single file with their hand on the shoulder of the person in front ofthem. The tour guide then led them on to the next section of their “journey”,which took the group outside.

Once outside, the first group removed their blindfolds. The group had arrivednear the border between their “country” and the “country” in which theyintended to seek asylum. On the other side of the border was the refugee camp.The tour guide explained that in order to reach safety, the group must leavetheir country, cross the border and get to the refugee camp. As part of the goalto educate participants about the rights of displaced peoples in crises, the tourguide reminded the group of Article 13 in the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights which states that any person has the right to leave any country,including their own, to seek asylum.72 The group should, therefore, haveno problems in crossing the border to safety.

The group then approached the border. The border guards demanded appropri-ate documentation, which, of course the participants did not have. This exchangewas followed by a period of about five minutes where the participants attemptedto negotiate with the border guards to let them through, all to no avail. The actorsplaying the border guards were critical in order for participants to experience asense of frustration, anger and helplessness often experienced by refugees inthese situations. The border guards needed to be ruthless and harsh, emphasisingthat the lives of refugees are often valued poorly or not at all in such situations,that corruption is a large problem and that international law often has little rel-evance on the ground in many conflict situations. Eventually, the border guardsdirected the participants to go away and return when they had appropriatetravel documents. The group then moved away from the border, back towardswhere they had come from and discussed their options. The tour guide facilitateda discussion on what had just happened with the group, explaining that refugeesoften have to wait for weeks at border crossings before they are allowed through.The group then discussed what to do next, and how they could get across theborder to the refugee camp.

While the first group went through these stages of the journey, the second groupleft behind in the “home” listened to stories from former refugees about their experi-ences. These personal testimonies detailed the circumstances under which formerrefugees had to flee their home and journey to another country for safety. Afterapproximately five minutes, a second tour guide came and took them through thesame journey (the jungle, minefield and travel by night) as the first group.

The second group arrived at the border while the first group was consideringwhat to do next. The families were reunited and the members discussed whatthey had both experienced while being separated. The first group explained tothe second group what had been occurring at the border. After a few moments,the entire group went back and attempted to cross the border again.

After a few more rounds of negotiating and arguing, the border guards even-tually agreed to let the participants through, although often after receiving

72. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, available: ,www.un.org/udhr. (accessed 31 May2009).

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bribes. The bribes were usually made with fake money printed especially for thesimulation, although occasionally participants gave their own jewellery andmoney to the border guards (they always received them back at the end). Whilecrossing the border, however, the border guards arrested and imprisoned alladult members of the Azra family. The group was told that the Azras wereknown political agitators and enemies of the government and must therefore bearrested. The border guards provided no evidence for this. The Azra childrenwere then forced to cross into the new country alone.

Once the entire group were across the border and inside the refugee camp, thetour guide explained that they must go through a registration process before theycould access the facilities in the camp.

The head of each family had to register with a government official, who did notspeak English. The government official presented the head of the family with aform written in gibberish to complete. Participants struggled to determine whatthey were required to write on the form, while the government official becameprogressively angrier and more frustrated with them, yelling at them and speak-ing slowly and clearly in the unintelligible language, as government officials oftendo in English to refugees. Eventually, the government official would give up indisgust, stamp the form as “accepted”, and the family moved on.

The family then registered with a humanitarian aid worker (who did speakEnglish). The aid worker gave them a ration card and explained how importantit was that they keep it safe. The cards used were genuine UNHCR rationcards. The humanitarian worker then directed them to a representative from theAustralian Red Cross who took care of all the injured and unaccompanied minors.

After all the families had been registered, the humanitarian worker addressed thenewly arrived families. The aid worker explained that the camp was new and therewas still a lot of work to be done to finishing establishing the camp. Everyone had tocontribute to the running of the camp. The families were told that they would betaken off to various different areas and taught about different aspects of camplife. The injured and unaccompanied minors were taken to the Australian RedCross tent, where they were taught about the ICRC’s work with the injured andtheir tracing service for families with members who are missing. The Brumfamily would learn about water and sanitation in refugee camps, the Caze familywas taught about cooking and fuel while the Deng family was taught about shelter.

These education sessions lasted for approximately 15–20 minutes. Often thevolunteers who presented on these topics were former humanitarian aidworkers who were able to provide accounts of first-hand experiences to the par-ticipants. The information on the amounts of water, food and shelter materialsgiven to families were all accurate and gained from UNHCR, Oxfam or otherhumanitarian aid sources. The camp also displayed genuine humanitariansupplies and materials including UNHCR tents, a water tank and waterbladder, real Oxfam and UNHCR buckets, blankets and other non-food items,as well as latrine slabs commonly used in camp toilets.

At the conclusion of these information sessions, participants gathered togetherfor a final debrief. The tour guide would go through with them the deepermeaning of what they experienced in the simulation. This discussion anddebrief concluded the formal part of the simulation. Participants were then freeto wander around the camp to look at other areas they had not seen or to continueon through the exhibition. Two other areas of the exhibition were not included in

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the simulation, the Future Homes section and the Action Tent. The Future Homessection described the options refugees had once they had reached relative safety ina camp. It also provided some discussion and commentary on Australian policiessuch as mandatory detention for so-called “unlawful entrant” asylum seekers. Itincluded quotes from former refugees and asylum seekers who had been placedin mandatory detention, drawings by children of the detention experience and asimulated detention cell.

Oxfam’s intention here was not to be openly critical of government policy (theexhibition was firstly and primarily an education tool rather than a campaign toend mandatory detention). However, Oxfam Australia sought to provide accurateinformation to allow participants to develop their own informed opinions aboutthe validity of particular immigration and humanitarian policies and practicesin place at the time.

Comments from participants in the surveys indicated that the Future Homessection would have been more effective if it had been made part of the simulation.However, survey and interview data suggested that many of the participants werestill personally affected by the information in the Future Homes section. Havingjust completed the simulation as “refugees”, participants indicated that as theywalked through the Future Homes section, they thought about what theywould do and how they would feel in a similar situation faced with the harsh rea-lities of some of Australia’s immigration policies relating to asylum seekers.

The final tent set up in the exhibition was the Action Tent, which was where par-ticipants were directed to go after finishing in the Future Homes section. In theAction Tent, participants could speak with representatives from Oxfam Australia,the Australian Red Cross, Amnesty International Australia, Red R Australia and anumber of other organisations that work with refugees about ways that partici-pants could get involved with the work of these organisations. Tours usuallylasted for one-and-a-half to two hours, with the option available to revisit someaspects of the camp, the Future Homes, Action Tent and/or the Timeline exhibi-tion after the tour was concluded, if the groups had time.

The main roles for performers in the tour were the tour guides, the borderguards, the government official and the humanitarian worker (the Red Cross repre-sentative was usually someone who worked or volunteered regularly for the RedCross). The role of the tour guide was central to encouraging participants to fullyengage in the simulation. Tour guides also had to monitor the intensity of the per-formance, assessing how participants were reacting to what they were experien-cing so as to avoid any unacceptable trauma (noting, however, that the purposeof the simulation was in some ways to simulate the feelings experienced bypeople when they do face persecution and conflict). The border guard roles werealso extremely important and demanding as they had to be unflinchingly cruel,even when some of the younger participants were laughing, not taking this partof the simulation seriously. The government official was also an important rolefor generating a sense of frustration and helplessness amongst the participants.

Evaluation Tools

The evaluation of the project relied on a number of different sources, includingparticipant and volunteer surveys, solicited and unsolicited written responsesand audio interviews. I focus on materials from the participant surveys, solicited

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and unsolicited written feedback and audio interviews. All of these are reportedon and referred to in Oxfam Australia’s evaluation report on the project and inthe documentary film made about the project.

Simulation participants completed over 400 surveys. Surveys were designed bythe author and developed with input from the Refugee Realities’ Project Coordina-tor and Oxfam Australia’s Research Unit Manager. The surveys covered a range ofquestions including level of knowledge about refugees prior to attending theevent, how the event affected their level of knowledge and their feelingstowards refugees and which parts of the simulation participants were most andleast impacted by. The survey also asked what, if anything, participants woulddo differently as a result of the simulation experience, as well as asking a rangeof demographics questions.

Several hundred audio interviews were also collected on site at the simulationas part of the Action Tent. These interviews asked participants specific questionsabout their impressions of the exhibition, how they felt following the simulationand what they would do differently now as a result of their participation.Owing to time constraints, not all of these interviews were transcribed in timefor inclusion in the Oxfam Evaluation Report and so are not examined here.

A number of participants, in particular school groups, also sent unsolicitede-mails and other forms of written feedback on the event to Oxfam Australia.

The surveys, interviews and written feedback were analysed by Oxfam staffand volunteers to determine the effectiveness of numerous components of theproject in challenging and altering attitudes and potentially changing the behav-iour of participants. I focus primarily on the findings relating specifically to theuse of creative, experiential techniques, mainly participatory theatre.

Preliminary Findings

The initial findings from the evaluation suggest that the experiential component ofthe project was effective as a social education tool in raising awareness andencouraging behavioural change. This was as a result of participants beingdirectly involved in the simulation, but also because of the performances fromthe volunteer actors.

Feedback from participants suggested that the components of the exhibitionthat were most experience/performance intensive had the greatest impact.These sections were the journey through the jungle, landmine desert and bynight, the border crossing and the camp itself. Respondents commented on thesense of loss, stress, anguish and urgency that the journey and the camp created.73

It was interesting and upfront. This way you could feel how the refugeeswere treated. It gave a realistic way to help us empathise with refugeesand what they had to go through. The blind folds and landmine wereespecially effective. (Survey respondent, after selecting journey as mostimpacting)74

The messages and lists of names at the Red Cross Tracing tent reallyhit me to the issues of family separation, the urgency of leaving home

73. Ibid., p. 28.74. Ibid.

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and the sense of loss. (Survey respondent, after selecting camp as mostimpacting)

Respondents also commented on the harshness of the border guards, their lack ofcompassion and the sense of frustration they felt at the border crossing. Onesurvey respondent wrote:

I found the journey and border crossing was quite confronting andimpacted me as the experiences and feelings were quite stressful.(Survey respondent, after selecting border crossing as most impacting)75

Even as a volunteer tour guide actor, who knew what was going on and hadrehearsed it many times previously, I found myself becoming frustrated andangry at the border guards for their lack of compassion, their implacable attitudesand the unfeeling way they spoke to the participants, who for the most part werechildren around 10–15 years of age.

Although the Run and Hide room was identified in the surveys as one of theareas that had least impact on participants, anecdotal evidence suggested thatthis was still an important part of the experience because of the emotions itcreated. One parent commented that the separation at the beginning of thesimulation affected her as she was separated from her daughter. She stated thatshe and her daughter both actually felt the pain of being separated.76

Responses indicate that these components of the exhibition had an impactbecause the participants had been asked to take on the persona of refugees.Comments from participants on these areas of the exhibit emphasise that itenabled them to feel what refugees go through and what they experience.

After attending the event, a number of teachers wrote to Oxfam to inform themof the impact of the simulation and its significance for the learning experience ofthe students. While the education kit that Oxfam provided to schools was high-lighted as helpful and of good quality, the teachers emphasised that the simulationitself brought the issues to life for the students through their experiencing firsthand many of the problems that they had been studying. A number of schoolsand universities have expressed interest in running or have run their own simu-lation event as a result of attending the exhibition at Gasworks Arts Park.Student groups from two Victorian universities, Ballarat University and LaTrobe University, ran their own scaled-down versions of Refugee Realities inAugust 2008 for fellow staff and students. These simulations involved between80 and 160 participants each and took them through an abridged version of theRefugee Realities script. In response to this interest, Oxfam Australia is in theprocess of developing simulation kits to enable schools and community groupsto run their own Refugee Realities.77

75. Ibid.76. Ibid., p. 24.77. Steph Cousins, pers. comm., November 2008. Three trials of the simulation kits are planned for

2009/10. The first of these trials was run in Mildura, a mid-sized country town in Victoria, Australia inearly December 2009. The other two will be run at schools in 2010. Another major simulation similar insize to the first is planned for Canberra, the Australian capital, in May 2010. As Australian governmentpolicy towards asylum seekers and refugees continues to be a prominent issue in parliament and themedia, this second major exhibition is likely to generate significant interest.

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Schools and universities running their own events also points to shifts in atti-tudes and behaviours as a result of participating in the simulation. It suggeststhat participants are eager to recreate the experience and share it with others. Evi-dence from the surveys also suggests that people’s attitudes and behavioursshifted as a result of participating in the simulation. Seventy-five per cent ofsurvey respondents commented that they felt more compassionate towardsrefugees, while a further 13% felt more concerned for the plight of refugees.78

An overwhelming 92% of survey respondents stated that the experience wouldaffect their future engagement with refugees in some way, with respondentssuggesting the following actions:

increase donations to aid and charity organisations, go on to learn andengage more with refugee issues, seek out volunteering and work relatingto refugee protection and support, raise awareness of the issues amongstfriends, lobby the government and local MPs, visit refugee neighboursand show them greater support, and talk to family/friends about whatthey learnt from Refugee Realities.79

The findings suggest that creative, experiential tools, such as participatory theatre,are effective for educating for social change because they expose people directly tothe experiences and emotions faced by others in real life. Being confronted withthese experiences and emotions challenges people’s self-perceptions and identi-ties, forcing them to consider how they would cope and respond in crisis situ-ations. In some measure, this enables participants to empathise and be morecompassionate towards those who have experienced such trauma or are experien-cing it. Creative, experiential strategies assist in breaking down the psychologicalbarriers people erect in order to avoid facing and addressing morally challengingand demanding issues such as mass human rights abuses and the plight of refu-gees. As a result of being “spect-actors” as well as their encounters with actors inthe simulation itself, participants in the simulation gained increased knowledgeand awareness of refugee issues. Yet participants also claimed changes in attitudestowards refugees as a result of their participation, and stated that their behaviourswould change. While this research seems to support the assumptions that socialchange organisations are currently working from (that experiences shape attitudesand that with changes in attitudes come changes in behaviours), there is furtherwork to be done to determine the extent of the effectiveness of such activities,how significant the shift in attitudes is and whether or not behaviours do actuallychange as a result of the experience.

Future Research

Further research is required on the significance and impact of performance- andexperiential-based education and advocacy tools on attitudes and behaviours.For example, while survey respondents stated their future engagement with refu-gees would alter as a result of their participation in the simulation experience,

78. Cousins et al., op. cit., p. 26.79. Ibid., p. 28.

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follow-up research needs to occur to determine whether this shift in behaviour hasactually taken place.

Research also needs to be undertaken to determine how to attract people withlittle to no interest in social justice issues to such events. Through targeting thesimulation at school groups, a number of students who had little to no interestin refugee issues prior to participating in the exhibition attended and wereimpacted by the exhibition. The same cannot be said about adult members ofthe general public. Understanding what might attract people with little interestin these issues to such an event will also have an impact on how these eventsare marketed and will contribute to their effectiveness. This need has beenidentified elsewhere80 and is an important part of developing knowledge aboutgenerating active global citizenship.

While this research focused on shifts in attitudes and behaviours of participants,little research was undertaken into how involvement in the simulation affected theactors. While these are people who are evidently already involved in social changeit would be useful to see whether their future activities were further shaped bytheir involvement in such a project or even to determine why they chose to beinvolved in something like this to begin with. This information may assist inrecruiting volunteers for similar projects in the future.

It is also important to empirically assess how effective experiential educationtools are for other social justice issues, including poverty, hunger and climatechange.

RMIT University and Oxfam Australia are currently exploring the possibilitiesof a collaborative research project to gather more comprehensive findings inrelation to the use of creative, innovative, experiential-based activism andeducation tools. This research will build on the initial findings from the RefugeeRealities simulation to examine the impact of experience on attitudes andbehaviours towards social change issues. The research will also address some ofthe issues raised here regarding future research needs. Working in conjunctionwith Oxfam Australia’s campaigning and advocacy arm as well as their YouthEngagement Programs, RMIT researchers will explore the use of performance-and other experiential-based advocacy and education tools on knowledge,awareness, attitudes and behaviours towards issues of global injustice. Thestudy will follow participants over three years, examining long-term attitudinaland behavioural shifts as a result of participation in experiential-based learningexhibitions.

Conclusion

Results from the Oxfam Australia case study would seem to support assumptionscurrently being made by social change activists and global justice theorists thatestablishing connections with individuals suffering injustice through sharedexperiences and emotions assist in overcoming psychological numbing towardsthese issues. This, in turn, helps to shift attitudes and behaviours and encouragespeople to more actively and passionately engage in social change activities. Whilethese findings are far from conclusive, they do suggest a positive link between

80. Martha C. Monroe, “A Priority for ESD Research: Influencing Adult Citizens”, Journal ofEducation for Sustainable Development, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007), pp. 107–113.

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social education experiences that generate an emotional response and subsequentshifts in attitudes and behaviours. Further research is needed to determine exactlywhat the impact of these experiences are and whether or not changes in attitudesand behaviours are long lasting, whether there is a significant age at which suchexperiences should occur for maximum effectiveness or whether certain types ofperformance and experience are more effective at particular ages. Such researchwill take time.

In the meantime, it would seem that creative, innovative, experience-based toolshave sufficient impact to justify their continued use in social change educationand activism.

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