2023 ended with some dramatic scenes playing out in parts of our study area, as wildfires threatened both people’s and baboons’ homes around Simon’s Town. We hope everyone has stayed safe, and had an otherwise calm and restful summer holiday.
The focus for 2024 will be a bit different for Unruly Natures than for 2023. Having completed the survey, we will focus on finding different ways to share the results, and find ways to engage with residents and other stakeholders to help us reflect on what we can learn from them. The first step is a first report, which is almost complete and will be publicly available soon. A second, bigger step is an deepening collaboration with Empatheatre, mentioned in the previous post. Empatheatre is a research-based, theatre-making methodology that has been developed to explore complex issues and help see them from different perspectives. Take a look at the 6 minute documentary below to find out more.
We are currently working with Empatheatre to develop a theatrical script that draws on our survey data – all anonymised – as well as interviews and other research that they conduct separately as part of their process (they have also recruited a really talented actor, who will be announced soon!) The purpose of this is to produce a theatre play that will tour the different areas included in our research, each performance followed by facilitated dialogues to reflect on the play. We believe this can be a much more meaningful way of sharing and discussing the issue, than by only producing scientific articles and reports. Tentatively, the performances will take place from 27 May to 2 June 2024. More details about this will be shared as soon as they are confirmed.
Unruly Natures Project 
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