Ncanana, Nomfundo Innocentia2025-04-242024Ncanana, Nomfundo Innocentia . (2024). The Awakening: Makudlalwe. A study on how play awakens the inner child in black Indigenous African adults [Masters dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WIReDSpace.https://hdl.handle.net/10539/44851A research report Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Arts , In the Faculty of Humanities , School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024Our inner child speaks to the stories of ourselves that we carry around either knowingly or unknowingly. These stories may come in many forms and this research aimed to awaken these early experiences through the method of play. Neuro-dramatic play is a frame of play in Drama Therapy that was used to frame the activity choices. The method of guided play was used as a container to carry out the neuro-dramatic play techniques. These methods also set a frame for understanding how the inner child can be awakened. A way to activate these memories is through using our bodies as a vessel that allows the flow of experience to take place. This is why play is an important element of this research as it assists us in traveling to and navigating that space in time, using our bodies. The colonized African child growing up under post-colonial times may have the experience and memory of being deprived of play due to colonial factors that include Apartheid, land displacement, and but not limited to slave labour. These colonial factors were introduced to hinder the black mind from remembering and consciously being aware of who they are. The system continues to serve those who are oppressors as play factors have not been clearly defined in the African context. This study investigates how the use of play in the context of Drama Therapy, can be used to awaken the inner child of the black Indigenous African adult.en© 2024 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.UCTDPlayinner childawakeningguided playneuro-dramatic playAfricanadultsIndigenousdrama therapyDissertationUniversity of the Witwatersrand, JohannesburgSDG-4: Quality education