Humanities and Social Sciences

School of Social Sciences

Refugee Health Research Centre - Current Projects

Good Starts Arts

Project Description
Objectives
Methods
Benefits
Publications/Outcomes
Funding Sources
Contact


Project Description

Good Starts Arts is a three-year arts-based research project that strengthens and enhances the qualitative component of the Good Starts for Refugee Youth Study. Utilizing visual anthropology and arts-based methods within an action research framework, researchers and community artists work with young people from refugee backgrounds to develop autoethnographic 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 facilitates skills development and wellbeing outcomes for participants.

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Objectives

The Good Starts Arts project has three objectives, as follows:

• Health Research Outcomes: To produce a variety of audio-visual auto-ethnographic 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-visual auto-ethnographic materials for public screening/exhibition, as a means of providing the general public with unique insights into the life experiences of newly-arrived refugee youth; and,
• Youth Development Outcomes: To develop the communication, story-telling, creative, leadership and audio-visual media skills of newly-arrived refugee youth, and improve self-confidence and self-esteem.

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Methods

Good Starts Arts draws on a range of methodologies from the fields of visual anthropology, participatory action research (PAR), arts-based research, auto-ethnography and collaborative ethnography, and community cultural development (CCD). It also utilizes research tools developed for the Good Starts Study for Refugee Youth.

Project facilitators use participatory methods to provide participants with training in developing narratives, conducting interviews, digital video and audio recording, visual literacy, and in other relevant filmmaking skills. Priority is given to the facilitation of authentic auto-ethnographic narratives that articulate and explore participants’ experiences of settling in Australia.

Forming the basis of the research component of the project, the audio-visual materials created are necessarily fundamentally the work of the participants. As much as is practicable, the participants control the form and content of the materials from their conception through to the final edit. The artists do, however, ensure that participants have realistic goals and expectations, and that they critically reflect on the narratives they develop and the materials they create.

The project outcomes are analysed for themes relating to identity, social connectedness, health and wellbeing. The researchers also conduct interviews with artists and participants, as well as conduct participant observations and document the workshop process.

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Benefits

The project’s three objectives lay out the multiple benefits the project’s processes and outcomes will produce.

The research component, which explores the indicators of health and wellbeing of young people from refugee backgrounds throughout the settlement process, is contributing important qualitative information to findings from the Good Starts Study for Refugee Youth Project.

Secondly, the media produced by the project participants in partnership with staff is assisting in broadening understanding in the wider community of the experiences of young people from refugee backgrounds. In the first year of the project, the short documentary outcome, See Through Me, was screened as part of the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival, winning the Community Prophets award for the film that had had a process of empowering young people.

Thirdly, the participants in the project are given an opportunity to voice their experiences and ideas around the issues of resettlement in Australia, as well as developing skills in the areas of filmmaking, acting, storytelling and interviewing. Participant evaluations from the project’s first year 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
The film is available to view online here - See.mov or See.mp3
Click here for transcript (pdf - 29 KB)
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
The film is available to view online here - Crazy.mov or Crazy.mp3
Click here for transcript (pdf - 26 KB)
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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Funding Sources

The project is funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant with partnership funding from the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) and The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (Foundation House).

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Contact

For more information on the project or to order a copy of See Through Me or Crazy, contact Amber McQueen

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