Improv for Democracy by Don Waisanen

Improv for Democracy by Don Waisanen

Explores how improv-based teaching and training methods can bridge differences and promote the communication, leadership, and civil skills our world urgently needs.

While much has been written about what democracies should look like, much less has been said about how to actually train citizens in democratic perspectives and skills. Amid the social and political crises of our time, many programs seeking to bridge differences between citizens draw from the surprising field of improvisational theater. Improv trains people to engage with one another in ways that promote empathy and understanding. Don Waisanen demonstrates how improv-based teaching and training methods can forward the communication, leadership, and civic skills our world urgently needs. Waisanen includes specific exercises and thought experiments that can be used by educators; advocates for civic engagement and civil discourse; practitioners and scholars in communication, leadership, and conflict management; training and development specialists; administrators looking to build new curricula or programming; and professionals seeking to embed productive, sustainable, and socially responsible forms of interaction in and across organizations. Ultimately this book offers a new approach for helping people become more creative, heighten awareness, think faster, build confidence, operate flexibly, improve expression and governance skills, and above all, think and act more democratically.

"An excellent introduction to improv theory and techniques that would be useful to a very broad range of practitioners and teachers" — Martin Carcasson, Colorado State University

Don Waisanen is Professor of Communication at the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College, City University of New York. He is the author of Political Conversion: Personal Transformation as Strategic Public Communication.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781438481159
ISBN 10	1438481152
Title	Improv for Democracy
Author	Don Waisanen
Series	Suny Series In New Political Science
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	State University of New York Press
Year published	2020-10-01
Number of pages	280
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.