Bokamoso Engaged Scholarship Project in 2025

During the winter of 2025, two colleagues from the Department of English Studies at a South African University undertook a community-engaged scholarship project with a group of young people attending the Bokamoso Life Centre in the Winterveld. The project aimed to help youth develop their life skills. It is a practice-led research project (Participatory Action Research) focused on building up the self-efficacy and social learning (Bandura, 1977) through a drama-based project. Over the course of a week, the youth participated in five workshops featuring drama games and activities. On the last day, the Bokamoso program leader and I also attempted a Forum Theatre engagement with the group. The Boalian (Boal, 1979) creative process, which uses improvisation and drama games to activate the acting abilities of youth, led to the creation of two short problem plays. The first performances were played before their peer group, and in September, they performed their plays before an international audience. The youth responded well to the programme we offered. The first play dealt with the suicide of a friend, and the second one focused on toxic masculinity. The key findings showed increased confidence and improved teamwork within their group dynamics. By creating a short performance about the problem they identified, they also developed their English language and vocabulary. This practice-as-research project demonstrates that drama and performance can trigger reflection, build self-esteem, and generate behavioural insight.