Tamil seniors media project
Above: The USYD-TISS Research Team with members of the Tamil seniors community at Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, November, 2022.
Above and Below: The USYD-TISS Research Team with members of the Tamil community inside Trombay neighbourhood, South Mumbai, November 2022.
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USYD researchers, Associate Professor Cindy McCreery, Dr Niro Kandasamy and Dr Bunty Avieson, meet with Sydney's Tamily community at the Pongal celebrations, Parramatta Park, January 29.
The Project
This project investigates use of the Internet and global digital media platforms as sites to counter the cultural, social and geo-political disruptions brought by climate migration. A cross disciplinary research team from India and Australia will work with two groups of Tamil senior citizens, one each in Mumbai and Sydney, to investigate new digital methods to promote active ageing, cultural dynamism and the inter-generational transfer of knowledge. This pilot study will investigate two online media platforms as asynchronous, collaborative spaces and sites of inclusion for diasporic communities, allowing them to connect and continue to participate in their national imagining.
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This two-part project will 1) record the migration stories of both communities for a shared online cultural archive and 2) teach digital skills to empower both communities to contribute to Tamil Wikipedia.
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The project is a collaboration between University of Sydney and Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
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Research team: Dr Bunty Avieson (Media & Communications, USYD), Professor Siva Raju (Centre for Population, Health & Development, TISS), Professor Asha Soletti (Social Work, TISS), Associate Professor Cindy McCreery (History, USYD) and Dr Niro Kandasamy (History, USYD).
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Research Aims
Aim 1) To create new pathways for senior citizens to join the emerging global knowledge commons through learning new skills and contributing their knowledge and wisdom.
Aim 2) To investigate how online spaces may enhance cultural resilience for migrating communities.
Aim 3) To find new methods to preserve and share migration stories through oral histories that record lived experience.
The overarching goal of this project is to find new methods of participation and inclusion for senior citizens, using online media technologies. Outcomes will include a stronger Tamil Wikipedia and the creation of a repository for Tamil migration stories, allowing further study of the lived experience of different migrant communities.