Enhancing Critical Thinking Skills and Ethical Responsibility in UK Higher Education in Times of “Polycrisis”: Two Case Studies from Drama and Theatre Arts

Abstract

In this uncertain age of “polycrisis,” where various types of crises—such as climate change, the refugee crisis, financial instability, wars—intersect in such intricate ways “that the overall impact far exceeds the sum of each part” (World Economic Forum, Global Risks Report, 2023), it is more important than ever to help students look beyond the university walls and address such complexities. This article argues that combining the enhancement of critical thinking skills, which are often linked to rational distancing, with the promotion of ethical responsibility through an affective closeness towards a topic at hand, is a crucial pedagogical approach in UK higher education today. This is because we live in an age which requires both critical analysis amidst, for instance, the rise of ‘fake news,’ and affective closeness due to, for example, the emotional numbness often caused by the amount and complexity of the crises we are confronted with today. Adding an affective dimension to a more rational approach furthermore has the benefit of encouraging deep learning as opposed to so-called “surface learning” (Race, 2007, p. 36), as an affective encounter/event can bring with it greater attention (Tomkins, 1995) and a longer-term consolidation in one’s (bodily) memory (Shouse, 2005). More sustainable and longer-term thinking in the face of complex and lasting crises is crucial particularly in light of largely short-term, election-focused political (in)action and fast-changing news cycles. To illustrate such an interlinking of distancing strategies with pedagogies of closeness, two particular case studies from Drama and Theatre Arts will be analysed because these can effectively highlight the usefulness of this two-pronged approach through their own combination of artistic nearness to ‘real-life’ socio-political issues as well as artistic distancing.