Performative Methods for Climate Change Communication in Academic Settings: Case Study of the Freiburg Scientific Theatre

Abstract

One of the main challenges for communicating climate change is to convey information so that it translates from a merely cognitive exercise to behavioural change and effective action. Recent studies point to the need to better address emotions, norms, values and trust in order to trigger behavioural change. This article explores the potential of performative methods to address this challenge, by documenting the author’s experience as part of a theatre group formed by young sustainability researchers and practitioners. Taking an autoethnographic approach, I first describe the method developed by the group for co-creating plays and performing them at academic conferences. Then, drawing on insights from arts-based research, I identify six performative functions of this communication format: providing access to different ways of knowing and doing, integrating and articulating complexity, humanising discourses, creating a platform for deliberation and promoting self-reflexivity and social learning. Based on the autoethnographic analysis, I argue that performative methods can be a potent tool for science communication to produce knowledge that is transformative. However, bridging the arts and sciences is a time-consuming process, which requires us as academics to engage in the process of questioning our own values and belief systems.