ABSTRACT
In these times of great social and ecological fracturing, considerable changes in what we value and the systems that we create and maintain to support them are required if we are to create an era of life-sustaining futures. In this chapter, we discuss an emerging social arts practice called Theatre and Stories that Reconnect (TStR). A case study exemplified by a pilot embodiment workshop co-facilitated in 2019 in Milan, Italy, examines the efficacy of TStR practices to help participants explore three forms of masculinities that we argue here dwell in us all, those being industrial/breadwinner, ecomodern, and ecological masculinities. TStR employs deep listening, creativity, and empathy to heal inner wounds, engage internal wisdom, and create ritualised transformational spaces to prioritise embodied liberatory potentialities and awaken greater care for the world. The chapter argues that the root causes of burgeoning global crises are enmeshed with destructive masculinities’ norms and responds by arguing the case for embodiment pedagogies that prioritise masculinities that are ecologised (aka. relational and caring). It is argued that TStR is one method that can move participants from masculinist power-over social constructs to empowered, life-sustaining, and ecologised futures of justice for all.
