Paths to a “Toolbox for Social Change”—Interactions Between Art and Continuing Education in the Context of Critical Diversity Literacy

Abstract

The aim of this article is to systematise some of the findings that have emerged in the context of an international research cooperation between the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and the School of Education at the FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. The objective of this collaboration is to generate research-based formats of continuing education concerning Critical Diversity Literacy activated by art. In this article, Critical Diversity Literacy is considered as a founding principle for a process towards an understanding of oneself and of the world, within the framework of global tensions and conflict situations. Adult and continuing education can successfully assist with framing the content and designing the concepts for such developmental spaces. Art and theatre education are understood as a catalysing force to open up new social imaginations. By interweaving these three disciplines, the intention is to create a body of theory and informed practice, the core components of which will be illustrated in this article. We begin by outlining the concept of Critical Diversity Literacy established by Melissa Steyn. We shall then go on to demonstrate how this concept is enriched by educational theory. As the third step—informed by artistic theory and practice—the fundamentals and tools (“Toolbox”) for continuing education arrangements will be presented, together with an exposition of the status of knowledge to date: the key challenge is the configuration of “aesthetic spaces” that can lead to “social imaginations,” to be designed in the form of “contact zones.”