Australia, the aboriginal “ways of songs” pass through social media

The native populations, such as that of the aborigines of Australia, they are often imagined as a community not very accustomed to modernity. Nothing more wrong: i young native Australians use social networks for spread their culture. In the ocean nation Instagram and the government agency Screen Australia have created a program that aims to promote the talent of the natives amplifying the voices of Aborigines online, safeguarding traditions and informing peers on the disparities suffered throughout history.

Social networks to tell traditions

After the success achieved in 2021, Instagram and Screen Australia – Sydney-based government body dedicated to promoting the nation – have also promoted the project for 2022 First Nations Creators Program designed for young descendants of Aboriginal peoples. Up to ten emerging creators will be selected to take part in an intensive program that provides training and funding, for make the Australian social media landscape more inclusive and different. The project includes training sessions and workshops on creativity, safety and well-being, together with an ad hoc guide on digital production and social media strategy. During the program, creators will receive production funding of AU $ 7,600, approximately € 5,000, per help them create Reels and content for their Instagram account. To apply, creators must be over 18 years of age and from Aboriginal communities or those of the Torres Strait Islands.

The competition organized by Meta’s site is not the only expedient with which i Aboriginal youth are making themselves known on the web. Accounts on TikTok and Twitter chronicle the present and past difficulties of the native people. Today the indigenous Australians are about 750 thousand, or 3% of the total population. The damage caused by the English colonization in 1770 is now known, but even today Aboriginal people suffer a series of health and economic discrimination compared to other Australian citizens: socio-economic disadvantages, reduced access to education and health care.

Social channels like that of Marlena Law, 260 thousand followers on TikTok, are useful for telling members about the history of the native peoples of Australia. The activist belonging to the Wakka Wakka people of the state of Queensland, publishes educational videos in which she tells the past of her people about her. In addition to the difficulties faced by the ancestors, Law adapts and tells the local legends that have been transmitted orally for thousands of yearsas Bruce Chatwin tells us The ways of songs.

Viral traditions

Samuel Stubbs is the sports protagonist of the account S.stubbs23which has become viral on several occasions thanks to his commitment to to spread traditional Aboriginal music. Thanks to his didgeridoo he helped spread the sound of the typical instrument in the tracks that young followers use to create content on TikTok. Artists like Aretha Brownof the Gumbaynggirr people, show their own on Instagram and Twitter paintings inspired by the tradition of the aborigines. Other paintings depict the brutalities suffered by the natives in the decades following colonization. “Indigenous people are the oldest storytellers in the world, and social media has made creating and sharing content easier than ever. We are thrilled to partner with Instagram Australia so that we can identify and nurture new rumors on this platform“Penny Smallacombe of Screen Australia said.

The hashtag #blakaustraliafrom the title blak with which the indigenous people define themselves in the oceanic nation, groups informative contents on different platforms. In the correspondent TikTok page has reached 270 thousand views thanks to interactive clips in which the authors they disseminate information and historical facts. “TikTok is a platform where we can create a space for natives to engage and educate. This is why I started to tell my experience as a blak woman. My channel exploded pretty quickly, most notably via a video I made of a racist interaction I had with a driver“, he told the creator Meissa Mason, of the Wiradjuri people, with nearly 7 million followers. The use of social media is allowing Aboriginal youth to bypass traditional media, make a personal commitment to present themselves and native peoples and keep alive the traditions of their millenary history.