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The civic emotions and participatory drama : children's perspectives on compassion, empathy and justice

This research project primarily focuses on the civic emotions and their relation with educational drama. Emotion and Reason are not always at odds and when combined contribute in the upgrade of our awareness of the world and the intelligence of our decision making processes. Emotions that are beneficial towards others and seem to cherish social solidarity are considered virtues, which are ‘other’-oriented. The practice of such virtues in social life can be regarded as a precious characteristic of a vigorous civic identity. Civic emotions are inextricable from the concept of citizenship, when seen as a bond that unites all citizens in their common space and fate. This thesis explores specifically the fundamental ‘other-regarding’ emotion of compassion, as a natural inclination of human kind which needs to be educated to be expressed appositively. Empathy can be strongly connected to the expression of compassion and becomes the way in which participatory drama works towards the direction of the cultivation of the civic emotions. Justice is viewed as the core essence of every healthy society and should become an irreplaceable trait of each citizen. It is closely related to compassion as the power that triggers the relevant thoughts and motivates kindness in public life. This research venture investigates how educational drama may provide opportunities for the cultivation of the civic emotions but also for the way children perceive the notions of civic emotions as they emerge in the space of educational drama or in real life. My ethnographic study involved a series of drama workshops in a class of students. The data gathered in this case study illustrate the way children face the issue of compassion, portraying the elements that encourage the expression of kind behaviour and also the factors that inhibit the practice of acts of care.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:655623
Date January 2015
CreatorsVladimirou, Irene E.
PublisherUniversity of Warwick
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttp://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/69309/

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