Towards a new 'we': Applied theatre as integration
Journal article
Submitted version
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http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2496914Utgivelsesdato
2017Metadata
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Originalversjon
Applied Theatre Research. 2017, 5 (3), 225-237. https://doi.org/10.1386/atr.5.3.225_1Sammendrag
This article presents the Norwegian applied theatre project called P:UNKT, which suggests a meeting point, a crossroads and encounters. The aim of the project was to stimulate integration and cultural diversity, with the outreach nature of P:UNKT resulting in new ways of interaction and collaboration across groups and institutions. I conducted research on the project from 2010 to 2012 and three years later, in 2016. I claim that the project enabled ethnic Norwegians and immigrants to create unique storytelling theatre together that transcended the conventional preconceptions of us and them, resulting in the emergence of a new ‘we’. This type of social and applied theatre run by a professional, state-funded theatre is not common in Norway. The findings of my research are therefore of relevance to local communities, theatre companies and politicians. The P:UNKT project is an example of the active role that applied theatre can play in shaping Norwegian identity construction in the twenty-first century.