“Black Day to Freedom”: informal multicultural education initiative: Supporting expressions of refugee identity by migrant artists

Abstract

Purpose

“Black Day to Freedom” project was the culmination of five years of performance ethnography research that continues today in various forms through BeyondLabels. The title “Black Day to Freedom” came from an asylum seeker participating in a “free verse” workshop where all participants expressed their views on globalisation, social movement of people and identity. “Black Day to Freedom” his title, provides an insight into his perceptions of life and this framed a need to conduct further research into providing a voice for refugees and asylum seekers through informal multicultural education and associated visual arts expression.

Design/methodology/approach

The research follows a performance ethonographic perspective into the informal multicultural education project specific to exploring expressions of identity of refugee by migrant artists.

Findings

The informal multicultural education initiative specific to exploring expressions of identity of refugee by migrant artists was highly personalised and immersive in style with both educators and learners being co‐producers. This immersive, challenging, absorbing project required a passion by all to the mode of communications (visual arts) and the subject focus of refugee identity. The key implication of the informal multicultural education initiative is the unique insights provided by the migrant voices.

Research limitations/implications

A key implication of this research into informal multicultural education practice in the context of supporting expressions of refugee indentity by migrant artists is the need for further research into pedagogy equity in the context of personalised learning design for non‐traditional learners. One key question for future studies would be how we can improve our understanding of the “bridge” between informal and formal education and as a consequence engage the non‐engaged from cultural diverse backgrounds in our educational institutions.

Originality/value

Provides insights into multicultural education initiatives.

Citation

Hardaker, G. and Sabki, A. (2007), "“Black Day to Freedom”: informal multicultural education initiative: Supporting expressions of refugee identity by migrant artists", Multicultural Education & Technology Journal, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 80-99. https://doi.org/10.1108/17504970710759585