Democratic Theatre Practice in Donor-funded Projects: Challenges and Interventions

Abstract

Karachi, Pakistan is a mosaic of marginalized communities belonging to diverse ethnicities with distinct yet overlapping histories. Set against a backdrop of gang warfare and extremism, the city’s development sector has endeavoured to channelize the energies of at-risk youth toward educational and creative outlets. This chapter will explore if, and how, theatre projects restricted by specific attitudinal goals of countering violent extremism can organically foster more basic values of deliberative democracy within the logistical and temporal constraints of a donor-supervised project. In a divisive climate of struggling institutional democracy and governance, can a grass-roots theatre practice emerge that inculcates collective goodwill and critical generosity in the community while meeting official goals of countering violent extremism and growing even after the project period ends? Using Stephani Etheridge Woodson’s Community Cultural Development as a guiding theoretical framework, this chapter will explore the possibilities, challenges, roadblocks and opportunities of using Theatre for Youth Third Space, within the parameters of said project, to transcend the goals of Counter Violent Extremism (CVE). The project was carried out with 42 youth groups in six districts of Karachi over a period of eleven months, divided into two 18-week cycles, each culminating in youth-devised Social Action Projects (SAPs) that directly or indirectly address violent extremism.