Griffith University

BA (Hons), PhD,

Chair, Applied and Social Theatre, School of Education and Professional Studies
Convenor, BA in Applied Theatre (Hons)
Contact details for Professor Michael Balfour

Research expertise

Michael’s research expertise is in the social applications of theatre – theatre in communities, social institutions and areas of disadvantage and conflict. He is the recipient of three major Australian Research Council funded projects: Refugee Performance, developing drama-based projects with refugee new arrivals; The Difficult Return, creating new approaches to arts-based work with returning military personnel and their families; and Captive Audiences: the impact of performing arts programs in Australian prisons. Previously Michael was a researcher on In Place of War, a four year Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) in which artists respond to war and conflict.  He has also worked extensively in prisons in UK and Europe, developing a range of cultural programs exploring issues of social justice, violence and offending behaviour. Michael is currently supervising PhD students working in the area of applied theatre, prison theatre, and theatre ecologies.

Current teaching areas

• Theatre lab
  
• Postgraduate supervision and teaching
  

Publications

Books

• Balfour, M. After the War: The Art of the Return (current project)
• Balfour, M. (forthcoming) Refugee Performance: Practical Encounters, Intellect Press.
• Thompson, J., Hughes, J., & Balfour, M. (2009) (co-authored). Performance: In Place of War. Seagull Press/University of Chicago Press.
• Balfour, M.(co-edited with Somers, J), (2006). Drama as Social Intervention. Captus Press.
• Balfour, M. (2004). Prison Theatre: Theory and Practice. Intellect.
• Balfour, M. (2003). The Use of Drama in the Rehabilitation of Violent Male Offenders. Edwin Mellen Press.
  

Recent conferences

• Balfour, M. (2009). Invited keynote: Performance in a time of war: cross cultural examples from contemporary sites of conflict, International Conference on Congo, Brisbane Powerhouse, September.
  
• Balfour, M. (2008). ‘Performing refugee identities’, After Effects: Trauma, Memory, Performativity, University of New South Wales, November.
  
• Balfour, M. (2008). Invited key note: ‘No Place Like Home: refugee performance the (re)creating of identity’. Australian Council for Adult Literacy annual conference, Gold Coast, October.
• Balfour, M. (2008).  'Aftermaths: Empowerment, performance and refugee communities', (co-presenter), ArtsHealthConference, Newcastle, September.
  
• Balfour, M. (2007). Invited key note: All this useless beauty, Applied Theatre Symposium, Sydney, October.
  
• Balfour, M. (2007). Performing War, Acts of Resistance, IDEA Congress, Hong Kong, July.
  
• Balfour, M. (2007). Invited key note: The aesthetics of war and resistance, The Turn to Aesthetics, Liverpool Hope University, June.
  

Selected articles and book chapters

• Balfour, M. (In Press). ‘The art of return: aesthetic approaches to work with returned military personnel with trauma-related conditions’. In C. Marin and P. Taylor (eds.) Theatre and Social Change, Peter Lang.
• Balfour, M. (In Press). ‘By - For - With: Making meaning in community arts festivals and events’. In A.Bennett, I. Woodward and J.Taylor (eds.) Festivalisation of Everyday Life: Identity, Culture and Politics, Ashgate Press.
• Balfour, M. (In Press). ‘Refugee performance: encounters with alterity’. Journal of Arts & Communities Special Edition Arts & Human Rights in partnership with Amnesty International, vol.1 (3). 
• Balfour, M. (In Press). ‘Mapping realities: representing war through affective place making’, New Theatre Quarterly, 28 (2).
• Balfour, M. (2010). ‘Developing the capacities of applied theatre students to be critically reflective learner-practitioners’, Australasian Drama Studies.
• Balfour, M. (2009). The difficult return: Contexts and developments in drama-based work with returned military personnel, Applied Theatre Researcher.
• Balfour, M. (2010). Somewhere to call home: refugee performance and the (re)creating of identity, GIER working paper, Griffith University.
• Balfour, M. (2009). The politics of intention: looking for a theatre of little changes, Research in Drama Education, 14.3.
• Balfour, M. (2007). Performing war: military theatre and the possibilities of resistance. Performance Paradigm # 3, April.
  
• Balfour, M. (2005). Theatre, Propaganda and Resistance. Arts For Reconciliation: a World Journal of Research, Debate and Practice, v.1, July.
  

Performance projects

• Young Diggers Digital Storytelling project.
• Performance project with refugees from Burundi and Ethiopia in Logan, in partnership with Multi-Link.