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| Id | 196 | |
| Author | Spiegel, J., B.; Parent, S., N. | |
| Title | Re-approaching community development through the arts: a ‘critical mixed methods’ study of social circus in Quebec. | |
| Reference | Spiegel, J.B.; Parent, S.N. (2018). Re-approaching community development through the arts: a ‘critical mixed methods’ study of social circus in Quebec. Community Development Journal, 53(4): 600–617, https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsx015 |
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| Link to article | https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsx015 |
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| Abstract | Community arts projects have long been used in community development. Nevertheless, despite many liberatory tales that have emerged, scholars caution that well-meaning organizations and artists may inadvertently become complicit in efforts that distract from fundamental inequities, instrumentalizing creative expression as a means to transform potentially dissident youth into productive and cooperative ‘citizens’. This article examines how social circus – using circus arts with equity-seeking communities – has been affecting personal and community development among youth with marginalized lifestyles in Quebec, Canada. Employing a ‘critical mixed methods’ design, we analysed the impacts of the social circus methodology and partnership model deployed on transformation at the personal and community level. Our analysis suggests that transformation in this context is grounded in principles of using embodied play to re-forge habits and fortify an identity within community and societal acceptance through recognizing individual and collective creative contributions. The disciplinary dimension of the programme, however, equally suggests an imprinting of values of ‘productivity’ by putting marginality ‘to work’. In the social circus programmes studied, tensions between the goal of better coping within the existing socioeconomic system and building skills to transform inequitable dynamics within dominant social and cultural processes, are navigated by carving out a space in society that offers alternative ways of seeing and engaging. |
Nevertheless, despite many liberatory tales that have emerged, scholars caution that well-meaning organizations and artists may inadvertently become complicit in efforts that distract from fundamental inequities, instrumentalizing creative expression as a means to transform potentially dissident youth into productive and cooperative citizens. advocates of social circus as an alterna- tive mode of community work with young people living in precarious con- ditions often point to the fact that circus has in many places around the world including quebec emerged from a tradition of street performance and has historically provided livelihoods to those marginalized from mainstream workforces avrillon ; bessone ; spiegel. for social inclusion and social engagement adapting questions for social cir- cus. however these gains drew primarily on attempting to harness the sense of alienation into a force that could be publicly celebrated and even put to work for the dominant culture directing energy into socially acceptable activities such as contributing to the cultural life of the community. through the collective interaction of various activ- ities such as building pyramids or partner acrobatics habits of both trust- ing and becoming trust-worthy as well as controlled risk-taking with others are all designed specifically to foster different kinds of social subjec- tivities and collectivities encouraging individuals and communities able to support one another and be employable in the current market.
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