Systemic co-production through participatory theatre: Migrant domestic workers' rights via Waling Waling Drama Project
Original framing: “Co-production as political practice: The Waling Waling Drama Project” — bing news
The original framing omits the historical parallels between colonial-era 'civilizing missions' and contemporary participatory development paradigms. It excludes the voices of migrant domestic workers themselves, whose lived experiences are reduced to case studies rather than co-authors of knowledge. Indigenous knowledge systems of collective storytelling as resistance are overlooked, as are the structural ties between UK labor policies and global migration regimes that create the conditions for domestic worker exploitation.
Medium structural omission detected in mainstream coverage.
The narrative is produced by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), an academic institution historically aligned with development policy elites, for an audience of policymakers, donors, and NGOs. The framing serves to legitimize participatory approaches within mainstream development discourse while obscuring the colonial legacies of 'participation' as a tool of governance. It prioritizes institutional co-production over grassroots autonomy, reinforcing the power of knowledge producers over knowledge subjects.
The project centers the voices of migrant domestic workers, who are often rendered invisible in policy debates about labor rights. By co-producing knowledge with the affected community, it challenges the erasure of their expertise in shaping solutions. The methodology ensures that the narratives produced are not just about the workers but are authored by them, disrupting traditional power dynamics in knowledge production.
The Waling Waling Drama Project exemplifies how participatory theatre can serve as a decolonial tool for redistributing epistemic power in the context of migrant domestic workers' rights, aligning with indigenous traditions of storytelling as resistance and historical precedents like 'theatre of the oppressed'.