Musical pathways to the peer community: A collective case study of refugee children’s use of music therapy

ABSTRACT

Introduction

The quality of refugee children’s social life in the host country is essential to their health and development. Both practice and research indicate the relevance of music therapy in this respect, but our understanding of how music therapy can contribute to refugee children’s social wellbeing is still limited. This article explores how participation in music therapy in a public primary school can nurture refugee children’s readiness to collaborate with peers.

Method

The study is situated within a hermeneutic research tradition and is designed as a single-site, collective case study consisting of four cases. Empirical material consists of logs and audio-recordings from music therapy sessions.

Results

Results are presented as four case narratives that describe processes related to collaboration with peers.

Discussion

Based on abductive analysis, this article discusses the practice of music therapy in terms of the processes of regulating, negotiating, and building a sharable repertoire. The article suggests that music therapy nurtures the child’s capacity to regulate emotions and engage in social participation: an ongoing negotiation of interpersonal relationships is combined with the cultivation of a shared repertoire that creates bridges to other practices and larger social configurations.

KEYWORDS:

• Refugee children
• music therapy
• peer community
• collaboration
• participation
• public school
• case study

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Volda University

Notes on contributors

Kaja Elise Aaslid Enge

Kaja Elise Aaslid Enge is a music therapist and a PhD-candidate at the Grieg Research School in Interdisciplinary Music Studies at the University of Bergen. The last years she has worked with various projects regarding refugees and music therapy. Presently, she is working with children and families, as a part of the municipality of Bergen’s mental health services. She is also engaged as a teacher in the music therapy education in Bergen, and enjoys the interaction between practice, research and education.

Brynjulf Stige

Brynjulf Stige is a professor in music therapy at the University of Bergen. He has published extensively within community music therapy, theory development, children’s health and welfare as well as on elderly care. Presently he is engaged in leading and developing Polyfon – a cluster of collaborating partners aiming at developing interdisciplinary research and implementing music therapy in various settings. Stige was previously the founding co-editor of the international journal Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy and the founding editor of Nordic Journal of Music Therapy.