University Hosts The Freedom Theater in a Lecture on Theater’s Importance and Palestinian Investment in National Identity

The lecture focused on conservative national theater importance and its role in empowering national identity in switching conflict with occupation and the importance of Palestinian investment in culture as the local, regional and international changes are inconvenience for political investment especially under occupation, Palestinian internal political split and the chaos in neighboring Arab regions.

Portuguese expert Miranda started with brief theoretical framework included injustice, oppression and human tenderness in its political, social, gender and international contexts through using the Brazilian scholar Paulo Freire theories and others from the international criticism school thinkers who advocated the oppressed politically or socially. She noted that human behavior concepts based on the fact that the victim not only needs to be liberated from oppression and persecution, but also help the oppressor through sincere reconciliation, tolerance, training on patience and not to drift or be dragged into violent practices in various forms.

She added, living in Jenin camp since 2008 gave her the chance to see Palestinian reality in person and what people suffer from occupation injustice in Palestinian camps generally and especially in Jenin camp and that the diaspora caused by the occupation where thousands became homeless and hundreds of villages destroyed causing huge human suffering. She noted that theater, national songs, national literature and drama effects on pain expression and suffering greatly.

She also talked on lots of subjects, concepts and terms used on theater and its shows wither it was spoken or silent, some of which is used to understand conflict and solve it, resistance types especially cultural ways where they’re made for the world to understand national Palestinian story (spoken and non-spoken) through gathering suffering stories on diaspora, losing homes, places and immigration to nowhere.

Miranda presented extensively detailed training pillars she uses in stimulating creativity to reflect people’s suffering especially in a closed social and political environments that do not accept criticism nor self-criticism. These humanitarian pillars and mods are reflection, visualization, learning through the body, work through storytelling and innovations various kinds and forms.

Lecture’s goal was fulfilled by linking theory to practical real life, benefit greatly from local and international experiences in soft power and its role in promoting identity and conflict transformation.