ABSTRACT
This chapter studies the lived experiences of migrantised women and their trajectories as participants of a pilot theatre project that has been set up by Empact vzw (a socio-cultural civil society organisation in Flanders) as part of the ReIncluGen project. This participatory theatre project centres on the remembrance and honouring of migration narratives and labour migration histories in general, and the role of migrantised women and mothers in particular. Through the involvement of these migrantised women as agents from the start of the trajectory, this chapter sheds light on the role of theatre as a tool for socio-cultural empowerment. In doing so, this chapter examines this pilot theatre project entitled “OnBreekbaar” (“UnBreakable”) designed to introduce migrant(ised) women to the art of storytelling through performance. The project aimed to create a safe and supportive environment where participants could share personal experiences and migration-related traumas, including those of their parents, while developing theatrical skills. Through storytelling and performance, participants were able to confront past challenges, express complex emotions, and embrace new experiences, using theatre as a tool for self-expression and reflection. Beyond providing a creative outlet, the project functions as a form of constructive resistance. By centring these women as authors and performers of their own narratives, it challenges dominant societal narratives that often render them voiceless or marginal. The project integrates acting, trauma processing, and directing techniques, drawing on narrative therapy, psychodrama, playback theatre, and dramatherapy, fostering an embodied and affective exploration of lived experiences. Crucially, participants retained full control over their narratives, deciding what to share, how, and with whom, countering the idea that migrant(ised) women possess agency but lack recognition and structural support. As a result, the act of co-creation itself becomes a site of transformation, demonstrating how participatory theatre can simultaneously promote personal healing, collective empowerment, and social reimagining.
