From Nigeria to Australia: Celebrating Yoruba Heritage
A Melbourne Social Equity Institute Community Engagement Grant has been supporting a collaboration with the Yoruba Heritage and Cultural Association of Victoria aimed at understanding youth engagement with its program and activities.
Professor Adrian Hearn from the School of Languages and Linguistics was awarded a Community Engagement Grant in February 2021.
Taking advantage of the window between lockdowns, on Friday 2 July a hybrid in-person and online event was hosted in the Forum Theatre at the University of Melbourne's Parkville campus, bringing together around 110 community members with virtual participants around the world.
The event included demonstrations of talking “gangan” drums, ceremonial beads, storytelling, Afro-Cuban batá and rumba traditions, and a zoom presentation from Nigeria on tribal scarring.
Dr Ruth Singer (School of Languages and Linguistics) gave a presentation on the importance of language to cultural identity in Australian First Nation communities.
As part of the project, a website and phone app exploring these topics is now in the making.