Change and Transformation in Drama: Circumventing Denial through the Case of Edward Bond, 11th International Congress on Curriculum & Instruction "Curricula in Line with Current Developments: Education for All". Full-Text Congress Proceedings E-I

Avoiding the negative (denial of the negative) can create obstacles to the process of change and transformation that the arts, and drama in particular, aim at, especially in our neoliberal social context.This paper, which was also presented at the conference "Curricula in Line with Current Developments: Education for All" organized by Aydın Adnan Menderes Üniversitesi University, presents the findings of research on a way through which such denial can be addressed and circumvented in drama.The theoretical background describing the possible causes and motives of avoidance is based on the Lacanian theory of lack and deviation (perversion), which offers interesting descriptions of the rejection of the negative and the intensification of the subject's attachment to the neoliberal way of perceiving reality and living.Within this theoretical framework, a process drama in kindergarten is examined, where possibilities of circumventing denial and reapproaching reality through imagination are explored, following the proposals of David Davis and Bill Roper regarding drama and Lacanian theory, respectively. In this regard, playwright Edward Bond's theory and approach to drama focuses mainly on the concepts of site and the gap of meaning. These two terms relate to the social context of the drama and the activation of the participants' imagination, respectively.The research was action research, based on the traditional fairy tale "The Wolf and the Seven Goats."It seems that an Edward Bond approach could circumvent denial. According to the findings presented in the article, the void of meaning could be reopened for participants through drama to reconsider their views in relation to the human condition by bypassing denial and activating their imagination.