Who Was My Granny

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Who Was My Granny

 

Sunčica Milosavljević, theatre director, drama pedagogue, Serbia

Nataša Milojević, drama and dance pedagogue, Serbia

Mladen Brekić, Youth Drama Club POKUS, Serbia

Sara Prodanović, Youth Drama Club POKUS, Serbia

 

WORKSHOP

At Athens International Conference "Theatre/Drama & Inclusive Education"

21-23 of March 2025

Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network (TENet-Gr)

 

Language: English
Limited number of participants

 

Short Description

The workshop Who Was My Granny presents the creative drama method used in exploring family histories of young people – focusing on female lineage – in a national and international context.

 

The method was devised in a 5-month process implemented with high-school students in Serbia and France, with multiple aims: promoting the agency of women in families, communities and societies; fostering social inclusion and cohesion especially in societies that experienced big political and/or demographic changes, including the inflow of refugees; and supporting recent history school learning.

 

In the Conference workshop, a condensed process will be carried out: selected biographies of the participants’ female ancestors (grandmothers, grand-grandmothers, aunts, grandaunts, godmothers…) will be processed through 5 key steps, opening the insight into women’s position and life-conditions in the past, and in comparison with the present, as well as connecting personal stories with national history.

 

NOTE: Teachers and artists are welcome to join this workshop, regardless of theatre background.
Please note that the workshop includes exercises that may involve physical contact.

 

Participants’ requirements

The workshop is based on lifestories that facilitators need to know in advance.
The participants, who are willing to share them, should send them in before the workshop (on week at the latest) (see below how to send).

How to send a lifestory:

• The biographies should be written in a form of short stories.

• Stories should be written in English.

• For organizing a story, please find the Guiding Questions below.

• The stories in Word format should be uploaded in the Drive (ADDRESS HERE).

• No real names need to appear.

• Photographs can be included in the document, or uploaded in the Drive separately, in which case they must be named in such way to clearly relate to the biography.

• The facilitator(s) will choose biographies to be explored in the workshop. Other biographies don’t have to be shared with the participants.

NOTE: Contributing with a story is voluntary. It is not a condition for participating in the workshop.

 

Guiding Questions:

Most accounts are based on family stories, so the information will often not be complete. Try to find out as much as you can, but if you don’t get it all, don’t worry; historical accuracy is not the point. Please describe to your best knowledge:
Reminder: this is the lifestyle of a female ancestor (grandmother, grand-grandmother, aunt, grandaunt, godmother…)

• Birth:
  date / year, place, country

• About the family:
  parents, grandparents, siblings; what the family did for living (and other activities), the social-economic situation

• Education:
  from when to when, which school, which program, where (for all levels of education)

• Job/work:
  from when to when, where, employer, workplace/type of work (for all jobs)

• Marriage:
  from when to when, husband and children, where and how they lived (for all marriages)

• The third age:
  did she have her pension, whom she lived with, what she did then

• If grandma is no longer alive:
  how she died, where she was buried, who inherited her...

• Optional:
  important activities/events along the lifeline

 

 

Conference relevance:

Carried out in close collaboration of artists and teachers within the Erasmus+ project “Let’s Act Multilingual”, this practice relates primarily to two Conference strands:

-Artistic expression and social justice: examining how performing arts can be utilised to address social issues (namely the social divisions), promote empathy, and foster social change, and

-Interdisciplinary collaboration: encouraging collaboration between educators, artists, researchers, and community members to develop innovative approaches to inclusive education.

The practice contributes mainly to Critical education for Gender Equality, Social Inclusion and Cohesion, and Diversity.

 

 

Sunčica Milosavljević, PhD, is a theatre director with international experience in devised and applied theatre, interdisciplinary research and cultural management. A graduate and postgraduate from the Faculty of Drama in Belgrade and a graduate from European Diploma in Cultural Project Management. With the association BAZAART, Sunčica is a program director of national programs for development of drama/theatre in education, comprising e.g. a network of Local Teachers’ Resource Centers (LOTRECs), seminars, the annual conference and the edition Dramagogija. Laureate of the UNESCO Aschberg fund for residency at Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, India. Laureate of the international award „Grozdanin kikot“ for drama pedagogy. Former member of working groups with the Serbian Ministries of Culture and Education; the Presidency of the Association of Drama Artists; the Association of the Independent Cultural Scene. President of the international Cultural Network ORACLE.

 

Nataša Milojević, MA and Uni.Spec. is a drama and dance pedagogue and a performance artists, dancer, choreographer and activist. Graduated from the ballet school, Biology studies at the University of Belgrade, the Academy of Physical and Expressive Theatre in Belgrade. Completed the Specialist Studies in Drama Pedagogy at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb. She works with children, young people and adults throughout Serbia and the region as a performer, leader of creative processes and choreographer. As an artist, dance workshops leader and member of the jury, she participated in festivals in the country, region and abroad. Curator of the Performance Art Salon in Belgrade since 2022. Artist and expert at BAZAART since 2011.

 

Mladen Brekić is a student of Geological studies at the University of Belgrade and a member, coordinator and peer educator of the Youth Drama Club POKUS with the BAZAART. He participated in several Erasmus+ projects and international youth exchange programs. During high school, he was engaged in speleology in the Penjak club "AS", which directly cooperates with the Faculty of Mining and Geology in Belgrade, and participated in a couple of international explorations of speleological objects throughout the Balkans.

 

Sara Prodanović is a student of Psychology and a member, coordinator and peer educator of the Youth Drama Club POKUS with the BAZAART. She participated in several Erasmus+ projects and international youth exchange programs.