Karen Herman

Art, Violence, and Social Change: Challenging Violence Against Women and Girls Through Entertainment-education Karen Herman

Violence against women and girls is a major social problem affecting millions each year in the US and many more worldwide. Feminist theorists assert that ideology and social structures contribute to this violence, and some have called for broad-scale social change strategies to address it. Research on the development and effectiveness of these types of strategies, however, is limited. This book explores the potential for challenging violence against women and girls through entertainment-education, an emerging communication strategy that uses art in diverse media to produce ideological and structural change. Theater productions in two US communities were analyzed to examine social change effects related to violence against women and girls, as well as the promise entertainment-education may hold for community organizing, and possibilities for making visible how identities such as gender, race, and class intersect to produce diverse social locations for women and girls. The analysis illuminates innovative possibilities for using entertainment-education strategies, and should be useful for theorists, practitioners, and anyone seeking new ways to address social problems.