Imagistic Experiments with the Body : A Theater of the Oppressed Workshop with Migrant Communities

This study investigates how theater, as both an artistic manifestation and a methodological tool of Arts-Based Research (ABR), can be a privileged space for communicating and sharing migrants’ experiences. Through its multisensory and dialogic nature, theatrical language offers unique possibilities for expressing experiences that often escape the limitations of verbal discourse and traditional academic writing. In this manuscript, we report on a 4-day workshop on the Theater of the Oppressed, which happened in Porto, Portugal, between November and December 2023, with a group of migrant people who shared, collectivized, and discussed their migrant experiences. Some fragments of the exercises and conversation circles held after each session are analyzed here to grasp the individual and collective dimensions of this experience. The article highlights how ABR helped to unveil different aspects of the migratory experience, triggering a collective conscientization process through theatrical means.