what is Tambanuka?

I have been working on a social action project that focuses on using cultural performances to empower communities it highly borrows from Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed. I hope my visitors will find something exciting from the concept which has already started to be applied by a number of organisations around Zimbabwe.



TAMBANUKA : THEATRE FOR LIBERATION

INTRODUCTION
Tambanuka is a Shona word meaning “be free” or express you freedom. It is from the liberty and the freedom expressed by the term that a theatre process- which individuals form an opinion about their society, analyse and share their view point with the others derives its name Tambanuka. Is an animating process which builds people’s capacity to create performance through which they can analyse their situation, thereby developing a mind frame that necessitates change. Through the process the culture of silence, as in marginalized communities or the oppressed, is broken as individuals are presented with an opportunity to articulate a point of view as well as revealing one self in performance using improvisation, participants create situations, events and characters as in the real life thus enhancing comprehension. This weigh the submerged individuals are transformed into subjects or actors of their own development processes rather than objects (spectators). Tambanuka can be referred to as a process of reflection and action where mankind is a medium which they explore their own circumstances.

GOAL: Mobilize communities through a dialogic experience that necessitates a change of undesired circumstances


OBJECTIVES
To create a platform for the engagement of individuals of recreators of their own circumstances through theatre.
To assists communities in the identification and prioritization of community problems as well as proposition and implementation of solutions through participatory engagement.
Involve communities in developing communication tools that help them explore problems and implement solutions of their problems
Develop creative activities that can lead to discussion on social economic activities and political activities

RATIONALE

Tambanuka assets the role of theatre as a dynamic force which can be used in concretization, empowerment and transformation by class.
Central to this project is the use of theatre as a language and discourse accessible to any individuals as a tool in development processes. Using comprehensive or means (theatre action and dialogue), Tambanuka seek to enrich the peoples own forms of expression, adopt and strengthen the peoples points of view while taking its imides and relevant in a tradition and cultural contents and participates. The project borrows its conception from the normative approach to development where preoccupation is placed more on the basic need of the involve participants and its execution are meant to meet and address the needs as they stem from the heart or the participants. Through active involvement of the community theatre becomes not only a means but the goal as it mediates, development messages in a highly participatory environment.-where conventional methods communication has been mostly one way and almost dead, Tambanuka in campuses lively community engagements.

Tambanuka can be regarded as a practical cultural means of transferring knowledge and untangling shackles of oppression and ignorance. In this process, the audience is actively engaged as subjects in the leaning process while also challenged to take a critically the objective view of their experiences. Eventually the content of their leaning is not an abstract existence it has its bearing and social economic environment.

As a developmental tool Tambanuka functions as a form of research which can be used in discovering problems, rendering them in discussion and initiating a direct research for solutions. With regards to personal development, Tambanuka connive power to begin when gains the confidence and ability to analyze only social economic situation, articulate challenges, proposed possible actions for a change in a brooder political environment.

The basis of Tambanuka is deeply found in the use of action and theatre where;
1. the audience assumes the protagonist’s wrong changes the action and invents solutions and discuss plans for change
2. the action becomes a reseal for revolution the liberated spectator becomes an instrument for the implementation of reaction
3. theatre ‘s role is to involve people’s feelings and intellect as they are crucial in development of perception

Significantly in Tambanuka both actors and audience are taken through a process of concretization, empowerment and transformation of theatrical means whose language, action, can help people not think not passively but in motion. “Theatre is change and not simple presentation of what


METHODOLOGY
The participants are taken through a four stage process which can be broken down into a number of workshops and activities. Significant to the process are four which are;

self consciousness
Participants are taken through a series of theatre games and activities meant to awaken a sense of self knowledge in terms of physical structural limitations and possibilities. At this level participants are made to experience their limitations in control of their bodies

Assertion and expression through a series of games mostly drawn from cultural practices like children’s plays and animal emergary, participants realize and breakers from the social cultural inhibitions to their expressions.

3 language of participation
While the two areas above emphasis mostly on the individual, this stage recognize the use of dialogue and action (theatre) as a participatory language. This stage can be divided into three parts;
i. Shared intervention- both actors and audience are involved in the process of story making. The spectators write/or tell a story while the actors act on stage simultaneously
ii. Words of silence this part emphasis on practical intervention where a participant create still images (sculptures) using the bodies of participants to represent certain forces, issues, ideas etc about individuals or the community. The images (sculptures) have to represent three related stages in transformation which are the real image (what is existing), ideal image (what is desired), and the transitional image (process of change) which is used to join the previous stages together. This uses no word, dialogue and discussion is through action in silence.
iii. Direct intervention – this is the elimination of the two other parts in the language of participation and the highest level of democratic participation. The audience has the liberty to stop the action, replace the protagonist (main actor), and resume the action towards a desirable end. At this level, both audience and actors are engaged in a process of problem exploration and a search for practical solutions o the prevailing situation
Theatre as a process of discovering and exchange the participants use theatre in a continued quest for the truth, reality and to challenge status quo. Ta this stage theatre is used as a dynamic tool in the preparation for revolution while creating a strong tool for advocacy and freedom of expression. Both actors an d spectators shift the course of action towards an unknown end. It can be expressed in various forms

i. newspaper theatre – newspaper articles are transformed into different forms at times altering , complimenting, improvising, reinforcing, their content in a way that seeks to exposé certain weaknesses, highlight critical facts and creating a level of consciousness on important issues and events.
ii. Invisible theatre – the ultimate aim of Tambanuka which is to take theatre away from the mere division between actors and spectators into an actual event, action – revolution / change. At this level the theatre phenomenon can take place anywhere anyhow. A group of organized actors go into a target public place introduce a thematic issue to the people (who do not know the former are acting). The thematic issue is subconsciously explored to its natural ending e.g the issue of price hiking can be introduced in a supermarket just before the teller, the other actors help shape the debate /dialogue /discussion that may arise through timely interventions. However this can be sensitive in such environment as Zimbabwe, with its P.O.S.A

SUSTAINABILITY
Tambanuka is deeply founded from the concept of participatory development where individuals are critical in the exploration of their own problems and proposal and implementation of solutions. Primarily, participants are equipped with life skills such as teamwork, self esteem, active communication, respect etc.
These can be useful in individual development.
This way Tambanuka ensures internally driven sustainable structures which take the form of a behavior change ladder.
1) Knowledge of form and function of Tambanuka
2) Approval of its form and function in society
3) Intension to use it in a broader spectrum
4) Practice – the participants acquire the skills through Tambanuka and begin to apply them to explore issues of concern
5) Advocacy – individuals /groups become advocates for the use of the method by others. Participants experience and acknowledge the benefit of the use of theatre in critical analysis of issues and support the development of the project in other communities. Liberated individuals as a result of the Tambanuka process become critical in the empowerment and transformation of others through action. The cycle of change is then carried out by individuals who would have been liberated.

Monitoring and evaluation
The evaluation method in Tambanuka can be regarded as a built in system that can be drawn from a continuous assessment process which highlight on two strategic areas

1) Outcomes /probbcess indicators
Ø Issues raised through the inquiry process and the collective engagement of participants
Ø Other projects generated by the processes
2) Impact indicators
Ø Change in knowledge, attitude and acquisition and utilization of skills
Ø Long term results

- Influence institution in the use of Tambanuka by liberated individuals
- Liberation /consciousness awakening
- Participants’ recognition as transformers /recreators of their situation