Wandile Mgcodo
Prof Owen Seda
Tshwane University of Technology
(Dis)identification and mobilisation in a recent community-based arts project on GBV in Hammanskraal, South Africa.
This paper is based on a self-reflexive analysis of a recent community-based arts education project (CBAE) on gender-based violence (GBV) that was undertaken by students and staff at Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria in collaboration with the Greater Hammanskraal Arts and Culture Forum (GHACF). The project took place sometime between July and September 2024.
The paper uses personal experience from two university academics who worked on the project. It adopts a self-reflexive approach to critique notions of (dis)identification, mobilisation, and cosmopolitanism in so far as they link to ideas on mutual vulnerability, power dynamics, empowerment, critical emotional praxis, and mobilisation in community-based arts projects.
This is a self-reflexive evaluation, which attempts to juxtapose the strengths and weaknesses that visited the project. The analysis avoids a hortatory and self-celebratory approach that often characterises projects in CBAE. It uses data obtained through observation and journaling to make sense of the subject positions of the two categories of participants, namely the university practitioners and members of GHACF. Data is analysed in terms of how subject positions may have impacted the project’s success in terms of the ability to identify, mobilise and create commonality of purpose on the use of the arts to tackle GBV in South African communities. Furthermore, the analysis does not lose sight of the complexity of GBV as something that often manifests covertly.
Being a project in CBAE, the paper uses the lens of critical pedagogy to open a self-reflexive dialogue revolving around questions such as: how liberatory are CBAE projects, and what are their inherent limitations as well as basic and non-basic contradictions? Are notions of emancipation and empowerment real or illusory, and how are answers to these questions rendered more complex in contexts where university-based practitioners work in partnership with non-university artists?
BIOGRAPHIES
Wandile Mgcodo
Wandile Mgcobo is a Naledi Awards-nominated lighting designer and a lecturer in the Department of Performing Arts at Tshwane University of Technology (RSA).
With extensive experience in technical theatre, he specialises in lighting design, production management, and community theatre. He holds a master’s degree in Performing Arts Technology, focusing on production management and community theatre processes.
His research interests also lie in scenography, particularly exploring how lighting design intersects with social engagement and aesthetics. His creative research contributes significantly to the discourse on lighting as a tool for narrative expression, cultural identity, and social commentary in contemporary South African theatre.
As project coordinator of the HELLO Community Arts Programme, he plays a key role in empowering emerging artists and promoting collaborative, socially engaged creative expression in local communities. He has served on several influential panels and councils, including the Theatre Advisory Panel for the National Arts Council of South Africa, the Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, and Culture Adjudication Committee, Technical Production Services Association Board, presently serving as a member of the Creative Output Sub-Field Panel (Theatre, Performance and Dance) under the Department of Higher Education and Training.
Prof Owen Seda
Owen Seda (DPhil) is Associate Professor at Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria RSA. He has also taught at the University of Zimbabwe, Africa University, The University of Botswana, and the University of Pretoria, including California State Polytechnic University (Cal Poly Pomona) where he was Fulbright-Scholar-in Residence.
He is also a Commonwealth Scholar and joint recipient of a Fulbright Alumni Initiatives Awards grant with the late Professor William H. Morse II of Cal Poly, Pomona.
With research interests in African performance studies, postcolonial African drama and theatre and the construction of identities, cultural & creative industries of the Global South, drama theory, literature and criticism, Owen has published a combined total of over 60 academic journal articles and book chapters, including three co-edited books. He serves on the editorial boards of five international academic journals and has also participated in numerous academic conferences and theatre festivals in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the USA.
Owen Seda is a National Research Foundation (NRF) Rated Researcher and current President of the English Academy of Southern Africa (EASA).