how we think
Methodology
While the South African Constitution and its Bill of Rights affirms that all people are equal and should not face discrimination on that basis of gender, sex, sexual orientation, race, colour, age, disability, marital status, ethnic or social origin, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth, the country still has some of the highest rates inequality and discrimination in the world. The LGBTQIA+ community in South Africa, and globally, face many forms of prejudice, discrimination, and violence, with little to no social support.
Using high-quality, queer-focussed, rights-based applied educational media, Gamut 1 aims to develop inclusive social values and empathy in local and global audiences for the promotion of LGBTQIA+ human rights.
The Gamut 1’s work is specifically designed to evoke and promote empathy and enjoyment in its audiences. It utilises strategic artistic tools and techniques to tell engaging queer stories that allow individuals to have a personal, valuable, and, potentially, life altering experience.
The work is regularly presented at in-person events to a live audience. Each event is directly followed by a facilitated peer discussion in an open and non-judgemental forum, to encourage debate, and further the cognitive personalisation, problem solving and contextualising of the issues presented. Working in tandem with the facilitated event and discussions, the work is also disseminated through various digital and online channels, engaging audiences from all over South Africa and around the globe.
Gamut 1’s work and facilitated discussions take a rights-based approach, and are specifically designed to develop a person’s empathy and self-efficacy in relation to LGBTQIA+ human rights, while simultaneously developing their appreciation for queer-focussed media and stories as a cultural art form.
Self-efficacy, in this context, refers to a person’s ability to engage with and make choices or change one’s attitudes and behaviour. To be effective over the self. In Gamut 1’s work, self-efficacy is developed through modelling, where the person judges and assesses their own positionality in relation to an observed model (like a person featured in a documented story). Self-efficacy is promoted by providing the person with information, along with the means to contextualise and understand that information, in order to make effective and informed value-based choices.
In storytelling, empathy functions as a critical narrative tool, fostering a connection between the viewer and the content. By employing strategic experiential and storytelling elements and techniques, Gamut 1’s work evokes emotional engagement in its audiences, allowing them to understand and share the feelings of the characters. This cultivation of empathy is vital for audience engagement. It transforms viewers from passive observers into active participants, invested in the character and themes of the story. More importantly, empathy is a critical skill that needs to be nurtured and developed through modelling.
Gamut 1 combines both observational learning and modelling with reflexive learning through a facilitated discussion to develop empathy and self-efficacy. The work emulates a life experience which is then reflected upon through discussion, developing understanding and contextualisation of their experience. At the same time, themes and issues need to be addressed without threatening or destroying their inherent value to the person that holds them.
The experience becomes a life experience for each person, which assists them when dealing with similar decisions and situations in their own lives and communities. This, in turn, fosters a supportive, inclusive society for queer people, where individuals are engaged, active, empowered and compassionate agents in their own lives.