Speaker: Maria Pena, The University of The West Indies, Bridgetown, Barbados
Fisherfolk in Barbados are experiencing increasing marginalisation. They are concerned about their apparent invisibility and lack of voice in blue economy, climate change and national social protection initiatives and strategies. Motivated and empowered fisherfolk can instigate and influence change. Empowering fisherfolk for justice advocacy requires innovative and novel approaches such as Popular Theatre.
Popular Theatre combines narrative research with reflective practice. It finds expression in singing, dancing, personal testimonies, storytelling, poetry, roleplaying games and other cultural forms (e.g. sea shanties which fishermen sing) to highlight social issues. It is performed for and usually by ordinary people in their own language. An important feature of Popular Theatre is the discussion generated subsequent to the performances when people can share their thoughts, experiences, ideas and identify problems and solutions.
Since 2022, The University of the West Indies Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (UWI-CERMES) and the Social Justice Group of Regenerate Barbados (a national environmental network) have been collaborating to explore the application of Popular Theatre for empowering women fisherfolk to help transform small-scale fisheries (SSF) in Barbados. Popular Theatre capacity development activities began with a small core group of three women flying fish small-scale fish processors and has grown to a group of six who now call themselves The Voices From the Shore Theatre Collective.
The approach has been used to address a number of issues in the Caribbean but the application of Popular Theatre to SSF has been underutilised. It could be valuable for the promotion of social, blue and climate justice for fisherfolk. This is the first time it is being applied in the Barbados fishing industry.
This developing case study is a component of Maria Pena’s PhD research, Integrating social science information into the Barbados blue economy and for blue justice with a focus on small-scale fisheries (SSF)