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Oikotan: Intergenerational music engagement to foster cultural identity, resilience, health and wellbeing in migrant communities.

Oikotan, meaning harmony – is an intergenerational, community-based music engagement project that investigates how culturally grounded musical practices can strengthen cultural identity, resilience, and wellbeing within migrant communities. Music engagement, through learning, performing, creating, sharing, and listening as a powerful conduit through which individuals connect with their cultural heritage, values, and collective memory. For migrant communities, music often plays a critical role in sustaining cultural continuity across generations, providing a shared language for expression, belonging, and meaning-making within new socio-cultural environments.

Led by Dr Manonita Ghosh, the project focuses on Bangladeshi migrant communities in Australia, exploring how intergenerational engagement with culturally significant music supports identity preservation, social connection, and emotional wellbeing. The project examines how musical participation facilitates dialogue between older and younger generations, enabling the transmission of cultural knowledge while also allowing space for adaptation, hybridity, and contemporary expression. Special attention is given to how music-based interactions nurture mutual understanding, respect, and solidarity across age groups, particularly in contexts where intergenerational disconnection, language barriers, and cultural displacement may challenge community cohesion.

Addressing a critical gap in current research, Oikotan advances understanding of the role of culturally embedded music practices in fostering resilience and health among migrant populations, an area that remains underrepresented within mainstream arts, health, and wellbeing frameworks. Through participatory and co-designed methods, the project aims to develop a culturally tailored intergenerational music engagement model that strengthens communication, reduces social isolation, and promotes psychosocial wellbeing. By situating music as both a cultural and relational practice, Oikotan contributes to more inclusive and culturally responsive approaches to community wellbeing, with potential applicability across diverse multicultural and migrant contexts.

Project duration

Ongoing

Publications

  • Baldassar, L., Ghosh, M., Marino, S. (2025). Music, emotions and migration. Elgar Encyclopedia of Global Migration: New Mobilities and Artivism (412-414). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035300389.ch133.

Researchers

Oikotan Intergenerational music
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