Reclaiming the corporeal dimension in universities: the Theater of the Oppressed

This paper explores the Cartesian division between mind and body and its effects; in particular, it analyzes how Theatre of the Oppressed, in its double sociological and artistic dimension, can be a methodology for engaging bodies in University. The essay examines TO practice in a social theater workshop held at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2022/2023, an initiative that was conducted for the seventh consecutive time. The article unpacks how TO can help create spaces inside the university where professors and students critically reflect on different topics, especially through a sociological lens, mainly from the sociology of work. Analysing the work/body/task relationship, this essay also reflects on how universities can operate as spaces where students can rehearse active participation in a democratic society. Illustrating the strong relationship between the lack of training at university on the relationship between one's own body and oppression in the workplace, this work argues that TO can reveal habits that are inscribed on the flesh and explore new ways to undo habits that individuals experience as oppressive. This paper concludes that theater is a powerful instrument in restoring an understanding of the body as inextricable from the mind, allowing individuals to analyze structures of power that discipline bodies.