EVALUATION OF INDIGENOUS HIP HOP PROJECTS Kurongkurl Katitjin, Centre for Indigenous Australian Education and Research Faculty of Education and Arts Edith Cowan University 1 Table of Contents Table of figures ................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Executive summary ............................................................................................................................................................ 5 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................................................... 13 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................................... 16 Background ........................................................................................................................................................................ 16 Description of Hip Hop as a medium .................................................................................................................................. 16 Hip Hop as therapy ............................................................................................................................................................. 17 ‘Hip Hop’ and culture .......................................................................................................................................................... 17 Hip Hop lyrics and song choice .......................................................................................................................................... 18 The social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal children and young people ................................................................... 20 Facts and figures about depression, suicide and education .............................................................................................. 23 Project aims ........................................................................................................................................................................ 25 Project sites ........................................................................................................................................................................ 26 Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) ....................................................................................................................... 28 Project Methodology ........................................................................................................................................................ 30 Ethics .................................................................................................................................................................................. 30 Procedure ........................................................................................................................................................................... 30 Research questions ............................................................................................................................................................ 31 Analysis .............................................................................................................................................................................. 33 Results: Week one (stage one) and four weeks (stage two) following IHHP .............................................................. 34 Results: Six months following IHHP visit ...................................................................................................................... 55 Interpretation of the findings ........................................................................................................................................... 66 Case Studies ..................................................................................................................................................................... 76 Images of IHHP ................................................................................................................................................................. 77 Related programs ............................................................................................................................................................. 83 Related programs ............................................................................................................................................................. 84 Key stakeholders .............................................................................................................................................................. 85 Research Team ................................................................................................................................................................. 86 Schedule of Activities ...................................................................................................................................................... 88 Correspondence from other IHHP sites ......................................................................................................................... 89 References ........................................................................................................................................................................ 90 Appendicies ...................................................................................................................................................................... 92 One: Excerpt from an IHHP dance session, conducted at Derby District High School ................................................ 93 Two: Ethics approval ................................................................................................................................................... 96 Three: The evaluation materials obtained from the ECU Human Research Ethics Committee ................................... 97 Four: A sample of song lyrics from IHHP visit (Derby) ............................................................................................... 107 2 Table of figures Figure 1. Evaluation project sites ........................................................................................................................... 29 Figure 3. Can you tell me what Indigenous Hip Hop Projects is about? ........................................................... 35 Figure 4. Awareness of the facts about depression ............................................................................................. 36 4a. Do you know what depression is? ................................................................................................... 36 4b. Do you know who can get depression? .......................................................................................... 37 Figure 5. What should you do if you think someone you know is feeling down or depressed? ..................... 37 Figure 6. What are the signs to look for if a person is feeling down or depressed?......................................... 38 Figure 7. How would you feel about talking with your friends and family if THEY were experiencing tough times?........................................................................................................................................................ 40 Figure 8. How would you feel about talking with your friends and family if YOU were experiencing tough times?........................................................................................................................................................ 41 Figure 9. If you, or someone you know was feeling down, would you know where to seek help if you needed it? ................................................................................................................................................................42 Figure 10. If you, or someone you know was feeling down, where would you go to seek help if you needed it? ................................................................................................................................................................... 43 Figure 11. Are you aware of any health services in your area which may be able to help anyone who needed help if they were feeling down? .............................................................................................................. 44 Figure 12. Individual town results: Are you aware of any health services in your area which may be able to help anyone who needed help if they were feeling down? .................................................................. 44 Figure 13. If so, where would you go? .................................................................................................................... 45 Derby ......................................................................................................................................................... 45 Broome...................................................................................................................................................... 45 Figure 14. Awareness about healthy life choices ................................................................................................... 47 Figure 16. Would YOU approach these services if