The Power of Documentary Theatre to Promote Cross-National Understanding : Personal Impact of Performing With Their Voices Raised by Japanese and American Youth Actors

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to share descriptions of the personal impact for cross-national youth actors (Japanese, American) who performed With Their Voices Raised (Voices), a documentary theater script that shares the stories of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima survivors who lived through the bombings of December 7, 1941, and August 6, 1945, respectively.

DESIGN/METHODS: This was a descriptive exploratory focus group study conducted immediately after student-actors from Funairi High School in Hiroshima (n = 15) and Farrington High School in Oahu, Hawaii (n = 8), performed Voices. Data were content analyzed by a cross-national research team to address the question "What was the personal impact of performing Voices for Japanese and American youth actors?".

FINDINGS: There were three themes that crossed national boundaries: sense of power of the message from real-life people, new cross-national awareness, and moving beyond familiar history to engage and learn. The fourth theme distinguished the youth groups: for Japanese youth, performing Voices inspired an awareness of their local focus; for American youth, it enlivened youth-to-youth engagement as a learning approach.

CONCLUSIONS: Documentary theater script is a creative, holistic approach with the potential to bridge divisiveness and promote cross-national understanding.

Errataetall:

ErratumIn: J Holist Nurs. 2022 Sep;40(3):NP1-NP5. - PMID 36398997

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:39

Enthalten in:

Journal of holistic nursing : official journal of the American Holistic Nurses' Association - 39(2021), 2 vom: 01. Juni, Seite 154-163

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Liehr, Patricia [VerfasserIn]
Matsuda, Yui [VerfasserIn]
Ito, Mio [VerfasserIn]
Morris, Kathryn [VerfasserIn]
Nishimura, Chie [VerfasserIn]
Takahashi, Ryutaro [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Adolescents
Common themes
Documentary theater
Group/population
Journal Article
Qualitative research
Transcultural/diversity

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 22.09.2021

Date Revised 18.11.2022

published: Print-Electronic

ErratumIn: J Holist Nurs. 2022 Sep;40(3):NP1-NP5. - PMID 36398997

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1177/0898010120959871

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM315309482