School of Social Sciences
La Trobe Refugee Research Centre - Current Projects
Good Starts Arts
Project Description
Good Starts Arts is a three-year visual anthropology and community arts research project that aimed to strengthen and enhance the qualitative component of the Good Starts for Refugee Youth Study. Utilizing a range of collaborative and arts-based research methodolgies, researchers and community artists worked with young people from Somali, South Sudanese, and Afghan backgrounds to develop audio-visual materials exploring their experiences of living in Australia. The resulting materials provide qualitative data for analysis, as well as a means of giving the general public insight into the experiences of refugee young people settling in Australia. The project also facilitated skills development and wellbeing outcomes for participants.
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Objectives
The Good Starts Arts project had three objectives, as follows:
- Health Research Outcomes: To produce a variety of audio-visual materials that strengthen and enhance the qualitative component of the Good Starts for Refugee Youth Project;
- Community Art Outcomes: To produce a variety of audio-visualmaterials for public screening/exhibition, as a means of providing the general public with unique insights into the life experiences of young people from refugee backgrounds; and,
- Youth Development Outcomes: To develop the communication, story-telling, creative, leadership and audio-visual media skills of young people from refugee backgrounds, and improve self-confidence and self-esteem.
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Methods
Good Starts Arts drew on a range of methodologies from the fields of visual anthropology, participatory action research (PAR), collaborative ethnography, and community cultural development (CCD). It also utilized research tools developed for the Good Starts Study for Refugee Youth.
The artists and researchers used participatory CCD methods to provide participants with training in developing narratives and creating screenplays, digital video and audio recording, visual literacy, and in other relevant filmmaking skills. Priority was given to the facilitation of authentic narratives that articulated and explored participants’ experiences of settling in Australia.
Forming the basis of the research component of the project, the audio-visual materials created were the product of a collaboration between researchers, artists and participants. The participants had significant input regarding the form and content of the materials, from their conception through to the final edit. The artists and researchers mediated the interests and desires of the participants and the requirements of the project to facilitate work that communicated participants’ experiences effectively. Facilitators ensured that participants had realistic goals and expectations, and that they critically reflected on the narratives they developed and the materials they created.
Synthesizing visual anthropology principles with collaborative ethnography and CCD practice, the audio-visual materials produced by the participants are analysed by the project’s research team for themes relating to identity, social connectedness, health and wellbeing. The researchers conducted interviews with artists and participants, as well as conducted participant observations and documented the workshop process.
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Benefits
The project’s three objectives lay out the multiple benefits the project’s processes and outcomes were seen to produce. The research component, which explores the indicators of health and wellbeing of refugee youth while they go through the settlement process, enhances the findings from the Good Starts for Refugee Youth Project. Secondly, the media produced by the project participants in partnership with staff have assisted and continue to assist in broadening understanding of the issues affecting refugee youth in the wider community through their screening in a variety of educational contexts. Thirdly, the participants in the project were given an opportunity to voice their experiences and feelings around their experiences of life in Australia, as well as develop skills in the areas of filmmaking, acting, dramatisation, storytelling and interviewing. Participant evaluations from the project indicate that participants experienced a range of benefits from taking part in the study, including gaining confidence in expressing themselves, learning that people are interested in their stories, and learning about the experiences of their peers.
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Publications/Outcomes
See Through Me: Discrimination through the eyes of ten young Somali-Australians (2007) [DVD] Melbourne, Vic: Refugee Health Research Centre, La Trobe University.
Click on one of the following links to view the film - See.mov http://www.latrobe.edu.au/rhrc/See/See.mov or See.mp3 http://www.latrobe.edu.au/rhrc/See/See.mp3
Click here to download the accompanying educational resource.
NOTE: A broadband internet connection is required to view the film. Please be patient as the film may take a minute or two to load once the link is selected.
Crazy: The everyday experiences of Sudanese-Australian young women (2007) [DVD] Melbourne, Vic: Refugee Health Research Centre, La Trobe University.
Click on one of the following links to view the film - Crazy.mov http://www.latrobe.edu.au/rhrc/Crazy/Crazy.mov or Crazy.mp3 http://www.latrobe.edu.au/rhrc/Crazy/Crazy.mp3
NOTE: A broadband internet connection is required to view the film. Please be patient as the film may take a minute or two to load once the link is selected.
Home: An exploratory journey with young Somali-Australians (2008) [DVD] Melbourne, Vic: Refugee Health Research Centre, La Trobe University.
Click on the following link to view the film - home.mov
NOTE: A broadband internet connection is required to view the film. Please be patient as the film may take a minute or two to load once the link is selected.
Finding Light: Reflections of recently arrived Afghan boys living in Australia (2008) [DVD] Melbourne, Vic: Refugee Health Research Centre, La Trobe University.
Click on the following link to view the film - finding_light.mov
NOTE: A broadband internet connection is required to view the film. Please be patient as the film may take a minute or two to load once the link is selected.
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Keywords
refugee young people, community arts, settlement, health and wellbeing
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Funding Sources
The project is funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant with partnership funding from VicHealth and The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (Foundation House).
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Contact
For more information on the project contact:
Anthony Rodriguez-Jimenez
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