5 - 6 June 2023: OUR ONE EARTH HOME: An Embodied Journey of Transformation - University of Bern.

Drought, Deforestation, Desertification, Displacement, Destitution, Disease: how do

we experience these critical sustainability challenges within our own bodies and

lives? And how do we enact our agency to effect transformation on our shared home

planet and within our lives in these times of climate emergency? These were some

of the issues that a diverse group of European, Asian and African scholars

addressed through the embodied and enacted methodology of Theatre of

Transformation, developed at the University of Oxford’s Enacting Global

Transformation Initiative.

Based on and instigated and inspired by the Home for Humanity movement’s diverse pioneers on all continents, the participants undertook a ‘One Home journey’ within themselves and around the Earth, to make the leap from overwhelm, hopelessness

or despair to critical review, creative engagement and transformative action. At the end of just 24 hours, each of the participants surprised themselves and inspired each other by enacting vividly their ideal future in 2030, and how they had achieved the optimal outcome for themselves, their desired contribution and for the Earth.

Home for Humanity’s own Humanity Fellow, Linda Leogah Forkwa also participated in the workshop alongside the scholars from University of Bern. She contributed actively with her experiences as a peacebuilder in Cameroon. Experiencing live for

the first time the theatre of transformation methodology, she stepped fully on stage

and enacted the roles of her mentor and of a local woman she has deeply inspired,and came up with a powerful final performance.

Prof Susan Thieme, Head of the Geography Institute and the Media Lab who had

convened the workshop, reported insightfully in her feedback:

“Playing, doing, embodying, enacting : the more the participants did and not ‘just talked’ but came into ‘the making’ the more they gained, reflected, understood, and got to know each other. It’s the ‘super-power’ of the methodology.”

“The grand finale of all our enactments : it was a super inspiration and at the same time

super-efficient. I think all participants where really impressed how much you can do in 90 minutes including an own enactment. People learn so much ‘by doing’ !!!

Witnessing/watching all the enactments goes very deep, because you get to know sides and thoughts of colleagues you did not know before.”

This workshop was designed specially for the professors, post-doctoral and doctoral

researchers and other graduate students of the University of Bern’s Geography Department