Hey! It’s Migration!

Athens, 25/11/2018, Workshop, Ömer Adıgüzel, İhsan Metinnam

Hey! It’s Migration!

Athens, 25/11/2018

Ömer Adıgüzel, professor, Faculty of Fine Arts, Ankara University, Turkey
İhsan Metinnam, research assistant, Faculty of Education, Trakya University, Turkey

2,5 hour workshop
Part of the 2018 ATHENS GREECE INTERNATIONAL THEATRE/DRAMA & EDUCATION CONFERENCE
organised by the Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network (TENet-Gr)

Language: English

In recent years, migration has become one of the most important problems of the world. Wars and the destruction created by them have forced people to leave their countries. This abandonment of homelands brings new stories under the spotlight. These stories often contain tragic incidents; adapting to a new place, finding a job, prejudice, social exclusion, homelessness etc. After the war in Syria, one of the "best" spots for someone to hear these stories is Turkey - though they’ re no longer just stories but a predominant part of everyday life. In an environment where dialogue and contact between the immigrants/refugees and the indigenous people are inadequate, projects for integration of them are not sufficient if genuine communication, between the two parts, is to be achieved. It is necessary for the people of the hosting country to gain awareness of themigrants’ stories in order to gain consciousness. In this way, we believe, humanity can develop a sensitive attitude towards the phenomenon of migration, which is one of the most ancient cultural components. In this workshop, migration stories will be explored through games, dramatizations and process drama technics.The main aim of the workshop is toraise awareness anddevelop empathy and sensitivity towards migrants. In this way, it can be said that drama will contribute tosocial change. The workshop is addressed to creative drama leaders, social service specialists, teachers and immigration officers.

Dr. Ömer Adıgüzel works on fields such as creative drama, museum education, drama at museums, children's museums, cultural pedagogy, folk dances, etc. He conducts workshops in different areas of creative drama in Turkey and abroad.Since 2003, he has been the Chairman of the Contemporary Drama Association (ÇDD). He is a member of International Association of Children and Youth Theaters (ASSITE), Association of Children and Youth Museums, Association of Art Educators (SEDER). He is the representative of the European Drama Association (EDERED), the International Drama/Theatre & Education Association (IDEA) and the German Association of Game and Theater (BAG Spiel und Theater). He is a national referee of Turkish Folk Dance Federation. He served as a member of the Central Referee, Education and Science Boards between 2016 and 2018. He was the Coordinator of Culture and Art of Ankara University and the Deputy Coordinator of Health, Culture and Sports Department between the years of 2012 and 2017. He was awarded the 2014 TÜBA Textbooks Incentive Award and 2014 NafiAtuf Kansu Educational Encouragement Award with the Creative Drama in Education book. Since 2017, he has been the Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Ankara University. 

Dr. İhsan Metinnam graduated from Ankara University, Institute of Educational Sciences, Creative Drama Graduate Program in 2011. He completed his Ph.D. at Fine Arts Education Department of Ankara University, Institute of Educational Sciences in 2017. He is currently working on Brian Way’s approach to creative drama, the relationship between social theory and creative drama, social justice, the transformative, emancipatory social contexts of creative drama. From 2013 to 2017, he worked on the boards of the Contemporary Drama Association and IDEA (International Drama Theatre and Education Association). In addition, he represented Turkey as the workshop leader in the European Drama Encounters (EDERED) in Switzerland in 2015. He works as a research assistant (Ph.D.) at Trakya University Faculty of Education at the Department of Primary Education.