Frayed lives, threads of hope: Australia's response to the global refugee crisis

"Syrian Refugee Camp" by Erin Wilson Photography is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

As part of our community engagement and social justice agenda, the Australian Fulbright Alumni Association (AFAA) will be hosting a series of public events in November 2019.

fulbrightalumni.org.au

Our goal for Frayed Lives, threads of hope is to increase Australian awareness about, and action on, the global refugee crisis.

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Australia Fulbright Alumni Association. ACT Registered No. A01934. ABN 99 730 723 674.9 Napier CL, DEAKIN ACT 2600

The Australian Fulbright Alumni Association

The Australian Fulbright Alumni Association is Australia’s national professional membership association for Fulbright Alumni based in Australia. Fulbright Alumni make significant and unique contributions to the overall vitality, creativity, equity and quality of life in Australia, the United States and around the world. Our goal is to harness the collective power of alumni contributions and connect Fulbright Alumni with the broader community.

The Executive Committee, State Committee Representatives and more than 300 Members are committed to:

· Creating a vibrant, connected Fulbright Alumni community;

· Supporting the development of professional, academic and personal excellence; and

· Sharing ideas, inspiring others, challenging the status quo.

AFAA holds a wide range of events across Australia for both AFAA members and the wider community, including major public Salons. Recent Salons have included the Future of the Australian-American Relationship; Finding a voice in a post-truth world; and Remaining democratic in extreme times.

Overview: Frayed lives, threads of hope

This project involves bringing to Australia US Fulbright alumna, communications professor and expert in cross-cultural communication, Dr Mara Adelman. Dr Adelman will host three major public forums (‘Salons’) in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (one per city) to discuss the global refugee crisis. Drawing on the Salon concept that Dr Adelman curated and led in the US, each Salon will bring together people with lived experience as asylum seekers, representatives from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane asylum seeker resource centres, performers and Fulbright scholars.

The purpose of the Salons is to (i) discuss Australia’s response to the global refugee crisis and (ii) identify opportunities to build and strengthen local action. We are also hosting a concert in Melbourne to celebrate asylum seekers’ community resilience by bringing together performing artists, associated charities, resources and supporters of the global refugee crisis. These public events will serve as a platform by which Fulbright scholars can build stronger ties with young people, asylum seekers, community organisations, universities and policy makers.

Aims

Each of the four public events is designed to enable people to gain a deeper understanding about the nature and extent of the global refugee crisis, and how they can help.

1. The program is designed to enable all participants – especially those not touched directly by the crisis – that ‘Frayed Lives’ doesn’t just apply to people seeking asylum and refugees – but to all members of civic society. The systemic barriers placed in front of asylum seekers not only cause their lives to fray but weaken the social fabric of the wider civic society.

2. By the conclusion of each Salon, all participants will have gained a deeper awareness of practical steps that they can take – on their own and collectively – to help support people seeking asylum.

3. The project aims to generate strong ties between AFAA, Asylum Seeker resource centres in three capital cities, and the wider Australian civic society.

4. The initiative aims enable AFAA to engage meaningfully, purposefully and systematically with asylum seeker centres and make stronger use of Fulbright Scholars’ human, intellectual, political, legal and social capital.

5. The project is expected to develop stronger ties with counterparts at the US Fulbright Association, who will be sending a delegation to Australia to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Australian-US Fulbright Scholarship program

Target Audience

We are targeting up to 500 people across three capital cities. We expect between 100-150 participants to attend each Salon event, with up to 340 additional audience members expected to attend a related Melbourne concert at Melba Hall. Salon Audience members will include combinations of the following:

1. All interested members of the public, especially university students and other young people who match the profile of asylum seekers (more than half the refugees around the globe are under the age of 18)

2. Asylum seekers, refugees, friends and families

3. Current Australian Fulbright Scholars, visiting US Fulbright Scholars and Fulbright alumni based in Australia

4. Service providers

5. Faculty and staff from UNSW, University of Melbourne, University of Queensland (TBC) and other universities in Victoria, NSW and QLD

6. Advocates and human rights lawyers

7. Sydney only: Twelve delegates from the US Fulbright Association, who will be visiting Australia between November 3-12 on an organized excursion and attending the Sydney Salon on November 7th (https://fulbright.org/travel/

Event Schedule

The Event Schedule is as follows:

1. Sydney Salon, Thursday 7 November

2. Melbourne Salon, Thursday 14 November

3. Melbourne, 15 November, Refugees, Remembrance and Resilience: Weaving Together Frayed Lives Ticketed concert

4. Brisbane Salon, Thursday 21 November

Costs

All events cost $15/10 concession. All three Salons include catering.

Organisers

The event is being organised by:

· Dr Iain Butterworth, lead organizer and AFAA President. Dr Butterworth[endnoteRef:1] [1: www.linkedin.com/in/iainbutterworth]

· Angela Heise, AFAA Queensland Chair and Executive Coach and Facilitator, is organizing the Brisbane event[endnoteRef:2] [2: www.angelaheise.com]

· Dr Zachary Dunbar, Senior Lecturer in Theatre and Performing Arts at the Faculty of Fine Arts & Music at the University of Melbourne, is convening the musical performances for each state. He is also curating the Melbourne concert event, Refugees, Remembrance and Resilience: Weaving Together Frayed Lives. [endnoteRef:3] [3: https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person666727]

· Event Curator, Dr Mara Adelman, Fulbright Scholar and Emeritus Associate Professor in Communications from Seattle University

Our major sponsor: the University of Melbourne

AFAA is delighted to be partnering with the University of Melbourne on this initiative. For several years, the University of Melbourne’s Office of the Vice Chancellor has supported AFAA’s quarterly events and our annual Melbourne Salon.

Our Melbourne events will form part of the Being Human Festival

Following a successful grant application to the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne, we are delighted that our Melbourne events will form part of the Being Human Festival[endnoteRef:4]. [4: https://arts.unimelb.edu.au/e/being-human-festival]

Being Human began in 2014 as the first and only national festival of the humanities in the UK. It is supported by the School of Advanced Study at the University of London in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. Festival hubs now operate in Melbourne, USA, Italy, Singapore and France. The festival demonstrates the breadth, diversity and vitality of the humanities, and that research in the humanities is vital for the cultural, intellectual, political and social life. In 2018 the Festival established a partnership with the Faculty of Arts to produce the first Australian international hub, and the Faculty is delighted to participate again. The 2019 international hub will continue to highlight the essential role that humanities research plays in shaping the world in which we live.[endnoteRef:5] [5: https://beinghumanfestival.org/being-human-university-of-melbourne-hub/]

Event curator, Dr Mara Adelman

Event Curator and Program Speaker is Dr Mara Adelman, Emeritus Associate Professor in Communication from Seattle University. Dr. Adelman received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington. Her dissertation on social support networks and subsequent book, Communicating Social Support (Sage Publication, 1987), won several academic awards. She joined Northwestern University, Chicago in the Department of Communication and in 1994, she moved to Seattle University, Department of Communication. She is author of Beyond Language: Cross-cultural Communication for ESL (co-authored with Deena Levine; Prentice Hall, 1982, 1993) and The Fragile Community (Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers, 1997). Her research and extensive publications focus on cross-cultural communication and adaptation, community building, and social support.

Dr Adelman has played a significant role in the resurgence of Salons — social gatherings in which people engage in the art of conversation in pursuit of knowledge and fellowship[endnoteRef:6]. At the request of her university provost, Dr Adelman initiated a highly successful three-year Salon program (delivering over 200 salons), which engaged the whole community in a series of topical seminars and deliberations. These programs were designed to combine both rhetorical and community practices that promote public engagement. [6: https://www.publicspheresalons.com/whysalons]

Dr Adelman shared the Salon concept with Dr Iain Butterworth during his Fulbright in 2003, when Dr Butterworth visited Seattle University as Dr Adelman’s guest. On his return to Australia, Dr Butterworth initiated the Salon concept through AFAA’s Victorian chapter. In 2006, on behalf of the Faculty of Health at Deakin University (Victoria, Australia), Dr Adelman was invited to speak at a conference on University-Community Engagement, curated by Dr Butterworth, on Dr Adelman’s Salon program; a new model for participatory public discourse and action.

In 2012, Dr Adelman was a Fulbright Specialist at the Department of Communication at the University of Mekelle in northern Ethiopia[endnoteRef:7] and a Fulbright Specialist at the Department of English at Fudan University, Shanghai, China from October-December 2017[endnoteRef:8]. In both programs, she developed culture-specific, required courses in Cross-cultural Communication [7: https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/2012/04/06/mara-adelman-fulbright/] [8: https://www.seattleu.edu/newsroom/stories/adelman-and-carter-receive-fulbright-awards.html]

Dr Adelman currently resides in Napa, California where she is active in promoting public awareness and action on the global refugee crisis. Her sisters serve on medical teams (Hands on Global) in refugee camps in Lesbos and Samos, Greece. Her commitment to the refugee crisis motivated Dr. Adelman to write several newspaper articles and create fundraising programs for the refugee camps in Greece. Currently, she is a board member for the Napa Center for Thought and Culture (NCTC), where, in April 2019 she curated “Frayed Lives: The Global Refugee Crisis” using the salon model. Due to the success of this event, NCTC is now in the marketing phase to promote “Frayed Lives” among religious and non-profit groups to further public engagement on this crisis.

Additional engagement

In addition to the three Salons, AFAA, through its visiting Salon curator -- Fulbright Scholar and expert in cross-cultural communication, Dr Mara Adelman – will offer free follow-up training, capacity building, consultation and workforce development to asylum seeker centre staff, volunteers and community leaders in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Dr Adelman has offered to:

· conduct free capacity-building workshops at each Asylum Seeker Centre

· give free lectures and talks at universities, community centres and other venues

· give media presentations

· hold free follow-up meetings with interested participants from each Salon

The Salon Program

AFAA has long recognised Dr Adelman’s salon format as providing a strong fit with AFAA’s mission and goals---promoting civic discourse on critical local and global issues. The salon format of engaged audience members, provocative questions and a next step in taking action far exceeds the traditional ‘talking heads’ model. Dr Adelman’s role as public Salon curator enables her to focus on the process and bring out the best from the public speakers (content experts, community members, Fulbright alumni) and audience members.

The program features key personnel from the Asylum Seeker Centre in each capital city, community speakers linked to each Asylum Seeker Centre, and Fulbright alumni with specialist expertise. A performance will be provided by artists connected to each Asylum Seeker Centre. Audience members will be invited to respond to talks in round table discussions and answer the question, “What can I do?” The presenters will share provocative questions and various options for how we can move to greater understanding and local action on this global crisis. Light supper will be served.

The Salon program will proceed as follows:

Topic

Notes

1. The Challenge (60 mins)

“Setting the Scene”. Curator, Dr Mara Adelman sets the scene and presents the Salon concept. Up to four Speakers include ASRC personnel; community speakers from the ASRC speakers’ program; Fulbright alumni with specialist expertise.

2. Performance

(15 mins)

People digest what they have just heard as artists contribute a performance.

3. Call to Action

(45 mins)

Small group work at each table. Light supper is served at the tables. People discuss what they have heard and generate innovative ideas for action. ASRC members and refugee speakers act as table discussants and respond to FAQs at each table.

4. Next Steps: Repairing the civic tapestry

(60 mins)

As a plenary, we share what we have discussed, and generate an action agenda from the themes that emerge. Engagement opportunities for Fulbright Scholars and AFAA are identified.

5. Close

Salon Presenters

A current list of speakers and organisers is provided below.

City

Presenter

All

Dr Mara Adelman, Frayed Lives event curator

Event Curator and Program Speaker is Dr Mara Adelman, Emeritus Associate Professor in Communication from Seattle University. Dr Adelman has played a significant role in the resurgence of Salons — social gatherings in which people engage in the art of conversation in pursuit of knowledge and fellowship. In 2012, Dr Adelman was a Fulbright Specialist at the Department of Communication at the University of Mekelle in northern Ethiopia and a Fulbright Specialist at the Department of English at Fudan University, Shanghai, China from October-December 2017. In both programs, she developed culture-specific, required courses in Cross-cultural Communication

Dr Iain Butterworth, AFAA President, Frayed Lives program manager.

Iain is trained in community psychology, with an interest in healthy, liveable, sustainable cities and communities. As a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley in 2003-4, Iain investigated the WHO Healthy Cities approach. In 2017, Iain returned to Berkeley on a Fulbright Alumni Initiative Grant to investigate opportunities for Berkeley to become a North American hub for delivering the UN Global Compact – Cities Programme. Iain has extensive experience in building innovative, intersectoral partnerships between citizens, practitioners and policy makers.

Dr Zachary Dunbar, Frayed Lives musical curator[endnoteRef:9] [9: https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person666727]

Zachary Dunbar is Senior lecturer in Theatre and Performing Arts Graduate Research Convenor (Faculty of Fine Arts & Music, University of Melbourne). He trained as a concert pianist and completed his studies as a Fulbright scholar at the Royal College of Music. Since then, he has also developed a freelance career as a theatre director, writer and composer whose works have been produced in the UK, Europe and Australia. As a scholar, he has several publications in Music theatre, Ancient drama, and Theatre history.

Sydney

Dr Shraddha Kashyap, psychologist in trauma for refugees, Refugee Trauma and Recovery Program, School of Psychology at the University of New South Wales[endnoteRef:10] [10: http://www.rtrp-research.com/dr-shraddha-kashyap]

During her postgraduate studies, Shraddha was awarded a Western Australian Postgraduate Fulbright Scholarship to work at the Bellevue/New York University Program for Survivors of Torture (PSOT), as a visiting researcher.

Ms Shukufa Tahiri, Policy Officer, Refugee Council of Australia[endnoteRef:11] [11: https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/former-refugee-shukufa-tahiri-recognised-as-one-of-australias-most-influential-women/]

Former refugee, and now human rights advocate, Shukufa Tahiri arrived in Australia to reunite with her father who had sought asylum in Australia when she was 13, after fleeing the Taliban rule in Afghanistan. The Australian Financial Review recently named Ms Tahiri in its prestigious 100 Women of Influence awards.

Dr Dan Caprar, Fulbright alumnus and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney Business School[endnoteRef:12]. [12: https://business.sydney.edu.au/staff/dan.caprar]

Dan joined the University of Sydney Business School in 2016. His work reflects his interest in understanding how individuals are shaped by the context in which they work, and how, in turn, they influence their context. As such, his research, teaching, and consulting are focused on culture, identity, and leadership. Dan is currently co-editing a Handbook of Contemporary Cross-Cultural Management, including chapters on migrants in general, and refugees in particular.

Frances Rush OAM, CEO, Asylum Seeker Centre[endnoteRef:13] [13: https://asylumseekerscentre.org.au/frances-rush-appointed-ceo-of-asylum-seekers-centre/]

Frances Rush was appointed to the position of CEO of the Asylum Seekers Centre in December 2015. Frances has been associated with the Centre since its inception and was Deputy Chair of the Board prior to her appointment. She brings with her over 30 years’ experience as a social worker in both the government and community sectors and has a wealth of experience in advocacy and policy development. She also has extensive experience as an oral historian having worked on projects at a national and state level.

Musical Performance by Bashar Hanna. Bashar will sing and play piano accompanied by Meethaq Al-Salihi, from the Mandaean Iraqi community, on the 'Oud'. Bashar is the founder of the Choir of Love, the Peacemakers Team & the Mesopotamian Ensemble and founder of an Arts and Community Development Centre which brings to life meaningful solutions to social challenges faced by diverse emerging Australian communities.

Melbourne

Dr Karen Block, Associate Director of the Child Health and Wellbeing Program, Centre for Health Equity, University of Melbourne[endnoteRef:14] [14: https://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person195811]

Dr Block has a strong national profile in the area of migration studies, exploring the interplay between host communities and migrants and the complex ways in which this interaction affects health inequalities, integration, inclusion and social cohesion

Noosheen Mogadam, Senior Lawyer, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre[endnoteRef:15] [15: https://www.asrc.org.au/human-rights-law/]

Noosheen Mogadam has an extensive background in immigration law and policy and is a senior lawyer in the Human Rights Law Program at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. She has also worked as a Protection and Advocacy Advisor across the Middle East in international emergency humanitarian response operations, focused on the Afghan refugee crisis and then the Syrian war. She has worked alongside host governments, the UN and other aid agencies in her positions and is passionate about human rights education, social justice issues, and fostering diversity in leadership.

Mr Norman Katende, photojournalist and community advocate.

Arriving in Australia in 2017, Norman Katende is a Ugandan photojournalist and a former vice president for the Uganda Journalist Union (UJU). He has covered a series of international events including both the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, plus the UN Summit and national elections. In 2016 he became the first Uganda Sports Press to cover three Olympic Games. Norman has won numerous awards, including the CNN Africa Photojournalist of the Year (Mohamed Amin Photographic Award), for his photo coverage of the 2010 Kampala bombing during a screening of a World Cup Soccer match in Uganda. Norman volunteers for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. He is also working as a communications coordinator.

Arnold Zable - Fulbright Alumnus[endnoteRef:16] (TBC) [16: http://www.jewishaustralia.com/arnoldzable.htm]

Arnold Zable is a dynamic and highly acclaimed storyteller. His books include the award-winning Jewels and Ashes (1992), The Fig Tree (2002) and the novels Café Scheherazade (2001) and Scraps of Heaven (2004). He is president of the International PEN, Melbourne. Mr Zable has run workshops for migrants and refugees and has recently spent considerable time with refugees held in Australian detention centres.

Musical performance by Mulu and Haftu (Ethiopia)

· Mulu is a famous singer songwriter who is well known for her singing in Afan, Oromo, region of Ethiopia. Mulu has over 20 songs available on YouTube and uses her music to share Oromo culture and advocate for human rights.

· Haftu is a musician originally from Ethiopia, who plays the traditional instruments called the Masenqo (a single-stringed violin), and Krar (5 stringed lute-like instrument). Haftu is a regular performer in local Melbourne band 'Music Yared' and in the Melbourne African Traditional Ensemble (MATE).

Brisbane

Kagi Kowa, QLD Community Organiser, artist and Refugee Advocate, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre – Brisbane[endnoteRef:17] [17: https://www.asrc.org.au/advocacy-and-power-program-advocates/#gallery-details-kagi-kowa]

Kagi Kowa was born in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan but sought safety in a Kenyan refugee camp where she lived for most of her young life until coming to Australia in 2015. An accomplished artist, Kagi is currently pursuing a Social Science degree at UQ.

Faysel Magan, community advocate and public health practitioner. [endnoteRef:18] [18: https://www.asrc.org.au/doctors/faisal-magan/]

Faysel Ahmed Selat (aka Faysel Magan) was born in Somalia but his family sought safety in a refugee camp in Eritrea. In October 2013, he arrived with his family in Brisbane. Faysel recently completed a Bachelor of Health Science degree majoring in Public Health at the University of Queensland. Faysel motivates and helps refugees to use the resources available to them to improve their physical health, to strengthen their psychological resilience and to integrate and succeed in Australia.

Dr. Kate Murray, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology & Counselling Faculty of Health, QUT[endnoteRef:19] [19: https://staff.qut.edu.au/staff/kate.murray]

Dr Kate Murray’s research focuses on the role of acculturation, stress, and health behaviours and their contribution to mental health and chronic disease concerns among immigrant and refugee communities. In 2007, Kate was a Visiting Fulbright Fellow at the University of Queensland. She compared refugee resettlement programs in the United States and Australia.

Helen Zahos, Humanitarian, Emergency Nurse and Paramedic[endnoteRef:20] [20: https://www.helenzahos.com/]

Helen Zahos has volunteered in disaster areas around the world and has cared for some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Helen has volunteered in Iraq in IDP Camps, in the Philippines after a Typhoon, and assisted during the Syrian refugee crisis on the border of Greece.

Musical performance by Beckah Amani

Beckah Amani is a singer-song writer from the Gold Coast, QLD. Originally born in east Africa in Tanzania, Beckah draws influence from soul, alternative folk and R’N’B.

Refugees, Remembrance and Resilience: Weaving Together Frayed Lives. Melbourne concert event

Image credit: Amnesty International Australia

Curated by Dr Zachary Dunbar, Refugees, Remembrance And Resilience is a significant community-building concert event celebrating asylum seekers’ community resilience by bringing together performing artists, associated charities, resources and supporters of the global refugee crisis.

The exciting mix of performing artists are responding with musical offerings to the notion of remembrance, the act of looking back at one’s past, and resilience, the act of weaving frayed lives into a new, stronger community. The programme will offer an interesting juxtaposition of classical repertoire that captures the conflicted memories and emotions of remembrance for places, people and lives left behind, alongside contemporary songs and music that mirror those meanings in the present.

Confirmed performers include:

Kylie Supski, a prize-winning Polish-Australian poet/ performer; Concert cellist Blair Harris and vibraphonist Brandon Waterworth performing a work by Katy Abbott (Senior Lecturer in Composition, MCM); concert pianists Zachary Dunbar and Danae Killian, University of Melbourne/ Fulbright alumni; Melbourne- based Gambian singer and performing artist, Yusupha Ngum; Australian opera singer Heather Fletcher; Melbourne's premiere vocal ensemble the Consort of Melbourne; and poetry by Richard J Frankland, an Aboriginal Australian of the Gunditjmara Nation. The event will be hosted by Mara Adelman, Fulbright Alumna and Emeritus Associate Professor in Communications from Seattle University.

Refreshments will follow the concert. Funds raised by the Remembrance and Resilience event will help pay for AFAA’s salons.

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