Dr Kennedy Chinyowa
May 06, 2011 Dr Kennedy Chinyowa
By Vivienne Rowland
A pioneer in his own way, Dr Kennedy Chinyowa speaks excitedly of the field of Dramatic Arts.
Being one of the inaugural lecturers on the Wits flagship arts programme Drama for Life, he fits comfortably in the role of the new Head of the Dramatic Arts Division.
This new role, one he stepped into at the beginning of April this year, comes after years of honing his skill in Applied Drama and Theatre. A true African scholar, Chinyowa, born and bred in Zimbabwe studied in his home country and Australia, before settling in South Africa in 2006.
His path leading to Wits started when he left Zimbabwe in 2002 to study at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, for his doctoral degree in Applied Drama and Theatre. Here he left his mark, leaving with the distinction of being one of the finalists for the American Alliance for Theatre in Education’s Distinguished Thesis Awards in 2005.
The following year his hard work was recognised by the National Research Foundation and he was granted a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg.
“I wanted to be closer to home and asked for a transfer to an institution on this side of the country. Fortunately the Tshwane University of Technology came to my rescue in 2008 and I continued my fellowship there,” says Chinyowa.
Around the same time he became involved in a new groundbreaking arts programme at Wits that came to be known as the Drama for Life (DFL) Programme and was one of the inaugural lecturers and a consultant researcher on the programme.
“It was such a great initiative to be involved in and it gave me the opportunity to put my research and what I’ve been teaching students about applied drama and theatre into practice,” he says.
Wits saw his potential and offered him a contract post as Senior Lecturer in the Division of Dramatic Arts in 2009, teaching applied drama and theatre, drama in education, theatre in education, theatre for development and theatre for human rights. After two years, this has led to his appointment as the Head of the Division.
“I was pleasantly surprised to see the trust my colleagues have put in me to be the Head of the Division. I hope I can be of great help in moving the department forward although I am still learning the tricks of the trade,” he laughs.
Chinyowa says one of the initiatives he is passionate about was the research work he does with Wits students on sexual harassment as a gender based conflict. He works with a group of six trained facilitators using the medium of interactive drama and theatre to enable students to come forward and share their personal stories on sexual harassment, to understand the nature of such conflicts and how to manage them.
“In 2009 I won a Carnegie Corporation Grant through the Wits Transformation Office to set up a research project on campus based on the theme of sexual harassment. We go into the university’s halls of residence and conduct these interactive drama workshops in order to engage students on matters relating to sexual harassment.”
Chinyowa says the use of drama as a medium of interrogating sensitive matters such as sexual harassment enables students to share their experiences in a safe space where they can freely express themselves.“This is more about how they can handle different conflicts affecting them and perhaps make them stronger individuals.”
He speaks animatedly about the plans for the Division. “Something new we are doing now is to combine DFL scholars and the regular Wits students so that there is no distinction between their learning experiences. The students love the interaction and the integration adds richness to the scholars on the DfL programme,” says Chinyowa.
The thinking around establishing a regional centre for applied arts based on the DFL programme is still very much in the beginning stages. “We would like to use existing models at Wits to base the centre on, paving the way for realising the dream of Wits becoming the centre for applied theatre and arts training. We have students from all over Africa, and we could possibly train our postgraduate students in applied arts and drama therapy,” says Chinyowa.
He says his future plans for the Division includes offering integrated courses that cut across disciplinary boundaries and produce all-rounded professionals who can easily match the increasingly competitive global market.
“We live in a world of competition and we want students who can function in that kind of world. We need to keep abreast of new developments in the arts field, and focus more on the kind of academic and professional training that can continue long after the teaching and learning has ended. It is important for us to uphold and upgrade our reputation as one of the leading drama departments in the country!” laughs Chinyowa.