De-colonizing Approaches to Arts-based Peacebuilding — March 2018
Dr. Babu Ayindo in Residence at Brandeis University
Kenyan conflict transformation expert, theater artist and traditional storyteller
Dr. Babu Ayindo engaged members of the Brandeis community in activities and conversations on questions surround decolonization and arts-based peacebuilding. In addition to sessions with members of the CAST advisory committee and students, he will lead sessions open to the Brandeis community.
A generous gift from the Max and Sunny Howard Memorial Fund supported Babu's residency at Brandeis.
- Open session of Professor Perdomo's Documenting the Immigrant Experience
"Storytelling and Peace Building: Arts for Social Transformation." This workshop examined storytelling and the arts as a medium through which social transformation can be achieved. Dr. Babu Ayindo, renowned artist-peacebuilder, outlined the impact of his own work and the ethical considerations he encountered along the way. - Open session of Professor Emilie Diouf's African Literature and Human Rights
Engaging with Human Rights Through Community Theater: This session examined the use of popular theater in Kenya to promote, educate, motivate and move people to action regarding human rights, especially in relations to gender and sexuality issues. Our featured resource practitioner, Dr Babu Ayindo shared stories of how indigenous theater is used as a powerful tool in human rights work. - Open session of Professor Tom King's ENG 133a, Advanced Shakespeare
Dr. Ayindo joined students and visitors in a discussion of Shakespeare in decolonial contexts, thinking critically about both the colonial history of the texts and those elements of the plays that have made them attractive to theatre companies and adaptors in decolonial settings. Dr. Ayindo also considered the work of storytelling in confronting conflict, leading an interactive exercise in adapting the central plot of "Much Ado about Nothing" (the sexual slander of Hero, her denunciation on her wedding day by her fiancé Claudio, and the staging of her death as a vehicle of reconciliation) as a way of reflecting on complex issues of gender, sexuality, consent and conflict today. - Arts, Peacebuilding and Decolonization: A Conversation with Babu Ayindo
A conversation with scholar, artist, peace builder, and storyteller Babu Ayindo, who presented his dissertation: "Arts, Peacebuilding and Decolonization: A Comparative Study of Parihaka, Mindanao and Nairobi." - Open session of Emilie Diouf's "Refugee Stories, Refugee Lives"
Performing Dislocation: this session examined the role of storytelling performances as means for empowerment and advocacy in refugee camps in Kenya. Dr Ayindo focused on theater's potential for cultivating peaceful cohabitations in refugee camps. - Part of A Powerful Fire: Performances to Energize Our Next 20 Years (a part of the Ethics Center's 20 anniversary Celebration)