Preventing Marginalization and Radicalization through Theatre and the Expressive Arts: Empowering Intercultural Dialogue

Abstract

Marginalization, radicalization, and encountering the Other are undoubtedly some of the topics on top of the agenda for social growth in our society. The roles that women, in general, and mothers, in particular, can play in prevention and inclusion strategies are certainly of great importance for an approach that goes beyond a simple intervention on effects, working on causes and facilitating intercultural dialogue. theatre and art have always been used as forms of storytelling, to generate emotions and make the audience identify with the stories they hear or watch. For this reason, in the field of methodologies and tools for the inclusion of people and the prevention of marginalization, over time excellent examples of the application of artistic approaches to facilitate the processes of growth and empowerment have emerged. Theatre and story-telling workshops, especially those for migrant women, represent good cases of facilitating the process of discovering and defining one’s own identity in a healthy way. This represents the basis for a path of integration through art,
giving awareness and inclusion to participants and at the same time making them “ambassadors” of the intercultural dialogue.