ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a personal genealogy of the author’s understanding of drama education as a force for change. It considers several papers and books published in the field of drama education to engage in a discussion of how the idea of social change has become so potent in drama education scholarship and practice. The author draws on critical perspectives to attempt to understand how systems of knowledge, and the discourses surrounding them, have become ways to ‘make sense’ of drama education practice. The chapter makes four proposals about the relationship between drama and social change, considering the role of discourses about young people; the relationship between knowledge, learning, and change; the prosocial nature of drama pedagogy; and the politicisation of schooling. Rather than reach conclusions, the aim of this chapter is to engage in a dialogue with the field, drawing on both critical analysis and personal reflection.
