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Media Release

July 29 2004

UniSA helps marginalised youth gain social acceptance through music

Using music, media and arts practices as a pathway to social acceptance for marginalised youth worldwide will be the aim of Australian Research Council Linkage – International Fellowship winners at the University of South Australia.

UniSA’s chief investigators Dr Gerry Bloustien and Dr Margaret Peters, with Dr Sarah Baker, all from the School of Communication, Information and New Media, and Dr Shane Homan from Newcastle University, will be joined by International Fellow Dr Bruce Cohen, from Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, who will work with the research team at sites in Adelaide’s northern and southern suburbs.

This fellowship builds on a successful collaborative project already in place that compares how youth from different countries engage in popular music using local cultural resources outside of formal schooling, according to Dr Bloustien.

The International research partners in the project are from Surrey and London Universities, UK; and MIT and the Watson Institute, Brown University, Boston, US; as well as Humboldt University.

“Our research centres particularly on music because music is something that young people feel they own, it is portable and many produce their own music. Many of our young participants also perform in public,” Dr Bloustien said.

“It’s not simply about listening to or playing music but how music provides a pathway to a whole range of other skills including self esteem, confidence building, leadership, management issues, employment possibilities, commercialisation and legal issues, which are part of working with peers to learn about music and its related industries.

“As an interdisciplinary team, we are working with young people themselves, enabling them to reflect on what they’re learning and what resources they draw on in the community. We are also looking at what resources are available to young people to help them access skills pathways and how the level and range of resources might be affected by policy decisions,” Dr Bloustien said.

Dr Bloustien believes the outcomes of this Fellowship will significantly enhance Australia’s leadership in international best practice for developing and implementing policies and programs for marginalised youth.

The International Fellowships, awarded by the Commonwealth government, enable Fellows from overseas research institutions to work in Australia with UniSA researchers on specific projects for up to one year, giving UniSA researchers the chance to build strong ongoing collaborations with international researchers and centres of excellence.

Director of Research Services, Dr Mark Hochman, says the University’s success in winning a total of $156,988 for the two applications submitted (out of 46 applications received from universities Australia-wide), places UniSA in ninth position among universities nationally.

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