How to play?:
The basic premise of the game is that all people discriminate, but the majority of people do so unintentionally. In most cases, we signal to other people that we reject them by the way we look at them, and often we don’t even realize it. The game therefore focuses on the gaze, on the communication of the eye. By performing a series of interlinked playful tasks, participants will learn a lot about how accepting or rejecting they are perceived by their peers and learn to use their gaze more consciously. The game elements are based on well-known drama pedagogical exercises, which follow a predetermined sequence throughout the session, with ice-breaking exercises first to get participants in the mood for playing together, followed by the learning of the technical elements. The final elements of the game build on the experience of both acceptance and exclusion. The session is accompanied by a guided interpretational analysis of each exercise.
Skills improved
Self-reflective cognition, more conscious use of facial expressions, spontaneous association, attunement to others, listening to each other.
Background
The game was developed as part of a discrimination awareness session at the 2017 International Week of HAN University in the Netherlands. In their joint work, the two brought together discrimination research, disability theory and drama pedagogical expertise. The game was later incorporated into Inez Zsófia Koller’s disability studies courses and into the repertoire of CASSI sensitivity games. Its easyto- follow structure and simple instructions make it a great platform for members of CASSI who do not have their own games but want to develop their skills as game masters and facilitators. More than 100 people have already played it.
The creators
Inez Zsófia Koller has been the leading teacher of CASSI since 2016, she has designed several sensitivity sessions on her own and together with the members of CASSI, but her main activity is to provide the theoretical, methodological and infrastructural framework for the members’ own game development. She considers it important to raise the issue of disability to a social dialogue and believes that we can successfully combat discrimination by first identifying and combating our own discriminatory behaviour. Norbert Hosszú is one of the founding members of CASSI and is currently the leader of the Improvocal Theatre Company. He considers the interactive, creative collaboration between actor and audience important, and his work is based on breaking out of the familiar, comfortable situation, which also supports self-discovery and self-affirmation.
