Annalee Yassi

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Margot Parkes

University of Northern British Columbia

Shafik Dharamsi

University of North Texas Health Science Center

Angelica Bernal

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Lisa Doolittle

University of Lethbridge

McGill University

University of British Columbia

Lorenzo Pellegrini

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Ariadna Fernandez

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Papers by Annalee Yassi

Theatre of Alliances? Role-play, Representation, and Ecosystem Health in Ecuador

by Jennifer B Spiegel and Annalee Yassi

Theatre Topics, 2007

The ecosystem approach to human health attempts to develop community capacity to address environm... more The ecosystem approach to human health attempts to develop community capacity to address environmental health concerns by crossing disciplinary boundaries and promoting equity and widespread participation. Role-play, a technique increasingly used in other training programs, is now being used in programs to promote ecosystem health. Here we analyze a socio-dramatization recently used in Ecuador in an ecosystem health-training course. We explore the complexities that must be addressed in order to foster the use of this technique to achieve its intended progressive objectives. Drawing on Spivak's distinction between political representation and artistic representation, we analyze some of the issues encountered in using role-play to facilitate understanding of politically charged environmental health issues with an intercultural and interdisciplinary group. We highlight the successes achieved, but conclude that without adequate guidance in understanding and deconstructing the archetypes and actions presented by the group, the full scope of the lessons that role-play has to offer remain untapped. We therefore finish by noting that expertise in performance techniques for community empowerment and cultural emancipation would be a useful addition to interdisciplinary teams endeavoring to promote ecosystem and human health using theatrical techniques.

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