Co-creating Spaces for Resilience to Flourish
A Community Music Therapy project in Cape Town, South Africa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v18i4.2592Keywords:
community music therapy, resilience, South Africa, MusicWorksAbstract
MusicWorks is a non-profit organisation based in Cape Town, South Africa, and offers psycho-social support through music to young people growing up in marginalised communities. In South Africa three hundred years of colonialism paved the way for Apartheid which left a legacy of waste, nepotism, corruption and the oppression of the majority of our country’s citizens. Its impact is still visible today and the consequences of past and current political, social and economic challenges has led to perpetuated patterns of poverty, gangsterism[1], unemployment, and family violence that are endemic to communities such as Lavender Hill where this MusicWorks project is situated. Encouraging and strengthening the resilience of young people within this community can empower them to not only break this cycle but also be part of the solution as they become contributing members of their community and society at large. Ebersöhn’s (2012) generative theory of relationship resourced resilience proposes that when individuals use relationships as a way to access, link, and mobilise resources, an enabling ecology is shaped that can foster positive adjustment in a largely at-risk environment. Drawing on this social-ecological understanding of resilience, this paper outlines the MusicWorks project in Lavender Hill and discusses case vignettes of music work with young people and the broader school community. The aim of the project is to co-create musical spaces where young people and those around them can access resourced relationships.
For the purpose of this paper the use of the term “gangsterism” is located firmly within the South African context, were terminology around “gangs” and “gangsterism” refers to a specific grouping of people who are involved in highly structured gangs whose criminal activity revolve mainly around illicit drug trade, with links to local and international organized crime networks ( Chetty, 2015; Goga, 2014; Shaw and Skywalker, 2016; Goga, 2014; Wegner et al., 2018). Several authors have linked the proliferation of gangs, specifically in Cape Town, to the forced removals of people during 1960 to 1980 as part of the Apartheid government’s Group Areas Act ( Chetty, 2015; Goga, 2014; Kinnes, 2017; Steinberg, 2004).
References
Ansdell, G. (2014). How music helps in music therapy and everyday life. England: Ashgate.
Baines, S. (2013). Music therapy as an anti-oppressive practice. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 39, 1-5, https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2012.09.003.
Brendtro, L. K., Brokenleg, M., & Van Bockern, S. (1990). Reclaiming youth at risk. Our hope for the future. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
Chetty, R. (2015). Social complexity of drug abuse, gangsterism and crime in cape flats’ schools, western cape. Acta Criminologica: Southern African Journal of Criminology, Special Edition, 3, 54-65.
Ebersöhn, L. (2012). Adding ‘flock’ to ‘fight and flight’: A honeycomb of resilience where supply of relationships meets demand for support. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 22(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2012.10874518.
Fouché, S., & Torrance, K. (2005). Lose yourself in the music, the moment, Yo! Music therapy with an adolescent group involved in gangsterism. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 5(3), https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v5i3.232.
Fouché, S., & Torrance, K. (2011). Crossing the divide: Exploring identities within communities fragmented by gang violence. In A. Meadows (Ed.), Crossing the divide: Exploring identities within communities fragmented by gang violence (pp. 215-229). Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.
Goga, K. (2014). The Drug Trade and Governance in Cape Town (paper 263). Institute for Security Studies.
Kinnes, Irvin. (2017). Contested governance: police and gang interactions (Thesis). Retrieved from https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11427/25344/thesis_law_2017_kinnes_irvin.pdf?sequence=1.
Leggett, T. (2016). No one to trust: Preliminary results from a Manenberg crime survey. South African Crime Quarterly, 9, https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3108/2004/v0i9a1030.
Mathews, S., Jamieson, L., Lake, L., & Smith, C. (Eds.). (2014). South African child gauge 2014. Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town.
Nagia-Luddy, F., & Mathews, S. (2011). Service responses to the co-victimisation of mother and child: Missed opportunities in the prevention of domestic violence: Experiences from South-Africa. South Africa: Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect & South African Medical Research Council. Retrieved from http://preventgbvafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Service_responses_to_co-victimisation_of_mother_and_child_2011.pdf.
Oosthuizen, H., Fouche, S., & Torrance, K. (2007). Collaborative work: Negotiations between music therapists and community musicians in the development of a south african community music therapy project. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 7(3), https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v7i3.546.
Patel, L. (2015). Social welfare and social development (2nd ed.). South Africa: Oxford University Press.
Pavlicevic, M. (2010). Action: Because it’s cool. Community music therapy in Heideveld, South Africa. In B. Stige, G. Ansdell, C. Elefant, & M. Pavlicevic (Eds.), Where music helps: Community music therapy in action and reflection (pp. 93-98). Farnham, England: Ashgate.
Pavlicevic, M., & Ansdell, G. (Eds.). (2004). Community music therapy. London, England: Jessica Kingsley.
Pavlicevic, M., & Fouché, S. (2014). Reflections from the market place – community music therapy in context. International Journal of Community Music, 7(1), 57-74, https://dx.doi.org/10.1386/ijcm.7.1.57.
Petrus, T., & Kinnes, I. (2018). New Social Bandits? A Comparative Analysis of Gangsterism in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa. Criminology & Criminal Justice, https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1748895817750436.
Pillay, J. (2012). Experiences of learners from child-headed households in a vulnerable school that makes a difference: Lessons for school psychologists. School Psychology International, 33(1), 3-21, https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034311409994.
Pinnock, D. (2016). Gang Town. South Africa: Tafelberg.
Rolvsjord, R. (2006). Therapy as empowerment: Clinical and political implications of empowerment philosophy in mental health practices of music therapy. Voices: A World Forum For Music Therapy, 6(3), http://dx.doi.org/10.15845/voices.v6i3.283.
Seedat, M., Van der Niekerk, AV., Jewkes, R., Suffla, S., & Ratele, K. (2009). Violence and injuries in South Africa: Prioritising an agenda for prevention. The Lancet, 374(9694), 1011-1022, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60948-X.
Shaw, M., & Skywalker, L. L. (2016). The Hammermen: Life and Death as a Gang Hitman in Cape Town. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 55(4), 377-95, https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12185.
Standing, A. (2003). The Social Contradictions of Organised Crime on the Cape Flats (ISS paper 74). Institute of Security Studies, Pretoria, South Africa.
Statssa. (2011). Lavender Hill Profile. Retrieved from: https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/stats/2011CensusSuburbs/2011CensusCTSuburbLavenderHillProfile.pdf
Statssa. (2016). Statistical release. General household survey. Retrieved from: //www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0318/P03182016.pdf
Statssa. (2017). Statistical release. General household survey. Retrieved from: http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0318/P03182017.pdf
Steinberg, J. (2004). The Number: One Man's Search for Identity in the Cape Underworld and Prison Gangs. South Africa: Jonathan Ball Publishers.
Stige, B. (2002). Culture-centered music therapy. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.
Stige, B., & Aarø, LE. (2012). Invitation to Community Music Therapy. New York, NY: Routledge.
Stige, B., Ansdell, G., Elefant, C., & Pavlicevic, M. (2010). Where music helps: Community music therapy in action and reflection. Farnham, England: Ashgate.
Ungar, M. (2008). Resilience across cultures. British Journal of Social Work, 38, 218-235, https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcl343.
Ungar, M. (2011). The social ecology of resilience: Addressing contextual and cultural ambiguity if a nascent construct. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 81(1), 1-17, https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-0025.2010.01067.x.
Ward, C. L., Flisher, A. J., Zissis, C., Muller, M., & Lombard, C. (2001). Exposure to violence and its relationship to psychopathology in adolescents. Injury Prevention, 7, 297-301.
Wegner, L., Brink, M. L., Jonkers, M., Mampies, S., & Stemmet, R. L. (2018). ‘We are the peace team’: Exploring Transformation among previously gang-involved young men in Cape Town. South African Journal of Occupational Therapy, 48(2), https://doi.org/10.17159/23103833/2018/vol48n2a6.
Wood, S. (2016). A matrix for community music therapy practice. Dallas, TX: Barcelona Publishers.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2018 Sunelle Fouche, Mari Stevens
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Articles published prior to 2019 are subject to the following license, see: https://voices.no/index.php/voices/copyright
