Plugged in: remote Australian Indigenous youth and digital culture

Image: Rusty Stewart / Flickr

17 May 2010For most Indigenous people in central and northern Australia the encounter with the western world has been relatively recent. Yet even in the most remote Indigenous communities, global influences pervade everyday life and new forms of media and communications are reshaping youth culture. This paper draws on ethnographic case study data from research with Indigenous youth who are participating in non-formal community-based media and music production and digital community archiving projects in remote regions. For these young adults the generational shift has been rapid, as many of their elders once lived a pre-contact nomadic existence. Now they are firmly part of global youth culture, taking on the role of mediating between old cultural knowledge and new digital technologies. Such generationally differentiated arenas of social practice are also changing the ways in which youth in remote Indigenous Australia are using oral and written language.

Image: Rusty Stewart / Flickr

Comments

In all honesty – I do quite a few of these things – just a bit differently at times maybe. I engage a heck of a lot – but they’re not always new people – although they are at times. I do a lot of thanking (at least more than 10 a day) – especially for RT’s and comments – whether to new folks or to ones I already know. Doesn’t matter – a thank you to anyone that’s done something nice for you is well worth it. But then again – you already know how I feel about that right ? Buy stromectol

Noticeboard

20 December 2011

On 18 November 2011, Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator the Hon Kate Lundy, announced the establishment of an independent panel of eminent community leaders to conduct an inquiry into Australian Government services to ensure they are responsive to the needs of Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

15 December 2011

We live in a 'wired society'. But how much are people affected by mental illness included in this? Does social media increase isolation or help people overcome it?

09 December 2011

The Historical Justice and Memory website now includes a daily newsblog.