DFL Africa Research Conference

For the past four years Drama for Life has hosted and organised the Africa Research Conference in conjunction with varied partners. Each conference has developed out of issues identified by delegates and in response to important developments, and debates within the field of Applied Drama and Theatre.

The conference has provided a much needed platform for academics and theatre practitioners to interrogate and investigate issues pertaining to the applied Drama and Theatre practices, particularly in an African context. The conferences provide a unique opportunity for practitioners and academics to speak to their work in the field. They have become a place to dialogue, interrogate and share the exceptional work that is being done all over the continent.

 

In 2012, the conference brought together the largest group of DFL’s alumni since its inception. It was an opportunity for them to tell their stories, their successes and challenges. For four days DFL students talked intensely and passionately about who they were, what they did and what they wanted to do. The conversation started in Johannesburg, shifted to Pretoria and then back to Johannesburg. Established under the auspices of the Goethe-Institut, the ALUMNI DENKFABRIK is a world-wide ALUMNI THINK TANK facilitated via the Alumniportal Deutschland.The THINK TANK seeked to explore the overarching question: What role do arts and culture and education play in the development processes of societies`, politics and economy in their respective countries? The shape and form of their responses were as varied as the places in which they found themselves.

In 2011, DFL collaborated with Canada's McMaster University to present a workshop conference entitled Social Work Beyond Boarders – Social Work Artfully. This groundbreaking conference explored the relationship between social work and applied drama and theatre.

 

Approximately 80 people attended the conference in 2008, 180 people participated in the 2009, 200 people participated in the 2010 Africa Research Conference and 60 in 2011. These participants were made up of academics, researchers, lectures, teachers, arts educators, drama and theatre practitioners, representatives from the non-governmental organisation sector and students from the University of the Witwatersrand and from other universities. Most of the DFL students attended the conference courtesy of the subsidy from National Research Foundation.

 

The Africa Research Conference has hosted attendees from different countries, including Australia, Cameroon, Canada, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, UK, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi, United States of America and South Africa.

Spokesperson for the Drama for Life Africa Research Conference: Caryn Green. Contact Caryn on: Caryn.Green@wits.ac.za