Daniel Stolfi, PhD, MSc, MA
Daniel is a UK-based medical anthropologist, an HCPC-registered dramatherapist (HCPC-registered), and the artistic director of The Awesome Puppet Company. He is a Lecturer and Module Lead in Anthropology and Aesthetics on Brunel University’s MA in Art Psychotherapy in London, and the acting Programme Lead for Brunel’s new MA in Dramatherapy starting in 2024. Daniel has a specialist interest in the therapeutic uses of puppetry and anthropology, and how our understanding and experience of suffering and healing are informed by and reproduce social and cultural value. He is active in education, training, research, and publishing in these fields, and has presented his work extensively at national and international universities and conferences.
PRESENTATION TOPIC
The Puppet: Object as Process and Therapeutic Agency
The aim of this presentation is to introduce and explore ways the puppet can be used therapeutically in a range of settings with different clients keeping in mind many of the clinical themes and core ideas within dramatherapy and psychotherapy. For example, the subjectivities of trauma, attachment and loss, resilience, family dynamics, differing cultural values, the importance of play, spontaneity and creativity, and uses of metaphor can all be explored through the medium of puppetry and puppet-craft from a range of socio-cultural contexts.
SPEAKERS MARIJANA PRODANOVIC LYDIA MITITS