Mobilizing stewardship through theater: Pathways to transform polarizing conservation conflicts

Since human–nature relationships are inherently complex, so are stewardship responses to environmental problems. This can cause social conflict and polarization, especially when the complexity is overwhelming and responses seem to challenge fundamental ideas about human–nature relations. Arts-based methods and creative practices can help people reflect and reimagine such ideas. This paper uses Vervoort et al.'s nine dimensions tool for assessing how creative practices can stimulate sustainability transformation and present a model for linking these dimensions to theory about stewardship with care, knowledge, and agency as three key domains. We then use the resulting framework to analyze a creative practice in the form of a theater play, Unruly. The play tells a story based on testimonies from residents in Cape Town, living in urban areas frequently visited by foraging troops of baboons. These visits cause considerable conflict between some residents, driven also by a polarized public debate about whether to impose stricter control measures on baboons, or require residents to more adapt and baboon-proof their homes.

Based on post-show discussions and a short survey (N = 118), we identify four key ways in which the play stimulated change by (1) embodying different experiences of the issue, (2) imagining alternative ways of interacting with baboons, (3) allowing for learning about the issue from other perspectives, and (4) nurturing caringfeelings toward baboons and other humans. We discuss how these findings help create a deeper understanding of transformative potential, particularly in stewardship domains knowledge and care, and what it all means for the practical challenge of managing and mitigating polarization around human–wildlife relations. We argue that the capacity to navigate, explore, and even empathize with competing agendas is critically important capacity for stewardship work—especially for highly contested sustainability problems that lack straightforward solutions.