Elias G Hedkvist | Stockholm University (original) (raw)

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Papers by Elias G Hedkvist

This case study examines the role of music and music-making for the youth in Brikama, the Gambia ... more This case study examines the role of music and music-making for the youth in Brikama, the
Gambia in terms of freedom of expression, sustainable development and social change. The
study is situated within a project where young musicians with different backgrounds wrote
and recorded their own songs during workshops with established musicians. The data was
collected via interviews with the participants and instructors, observations and song analysis.
The study uses Small’s (1998) theory of musicking to analyze the meaning of the musical
events in the social context. Furthermore, it uses theories on the relationship between music
and sustainability to analyze the role of music for the youth on an individual-, group- and
societal level, but also on an organizational level. The study finds that on all four levels music
and music-making holds many of the characteristics required for sustainable development
and that it can foster resilience through creativity. However, it also shows that this requires
the creation of inclusive spaces with an awareness of the cultural narrative and forces (such
as limiting traditional values and gender issues) that might limit the capabilities of
individuals, and the society, to reap these benefits. The study also shows how music, with its
artistic characteristics, can offer pockets of freedom of expression to a certain but limited
extent. Finally, the study shows how music can and should be incorporated more extensively
by organizations working for sustainable development and social change, both as a tool to
achieve other sustainability agendas, but also for the inherent characteristics of resilience and
creativity that is found in music-making itself.

New technologies, such as social media and web services, are becoming increasingly common and imp... more New technologies, such as social media and web services, are becoming increasingly common and important tools for community radio stations. The convergence of community radio, social media and web services opens up new opportunities for participation from the audience and challenges previous conceptions of community, participation, empowerment and the public sphere. This study focuses on how this convergence affects notions of participation, empowerment, community and the public sphere as well as the resulting challenges and opportunities. The study was conducted at three community radio stations in the Western Cape, South Africa and used a mixed-methods approach of qualitative interviews, a survey and netnographic observations of social media and web presence.
The findings show that social media and web services increases and changes participation by extending possibilities to interact independently of spatiotemporal limitations of radio broadcasts. It has direct effects on the content of the radio shows and the audience is empowered as co-producers and contributors of content. Additionally, the interaction itself creates new content in other mediums, such as blogs. The study also shows how the converging public spheres of community radio and social media are contradictory as participation becomes economized and exclusionary and relies heavily on financial means, access and digital literacy of the community. The expanded, global reach of community radio also challenges the notion of community as it includes distant and diasporic communities. However, the presence in the global mediascape harmonizes with community radio values of self-representation and self-expression. The study concludes that community radio stations need to both strategize their social media use while balancing their mandate to be a voice of the voiceless that lack access and/or digital literacy to participate.

This study examines the use of songs, poems and drama to raise awareness of, and respond to the H... more This study examines the use of songs, poems and drama to raise awareness of, and respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Nakuru, Kenya. The primary focus is that of youth-oriented interventions, but additional examples are also examined and analyzed. A qualitative approach is used and the study is based on semi-structured interviews with teachers, performers, students, NGO-representatives and former students conducted during four weeks in November and December 2012. Additionally, songs, poems and dramas have been collected and observed and finally analyzed using a theoretical framework that combines the Health Belief Model, the Social Cognitive Theory as well as principles of the research discipline of Medical Ethnomusicology. The study shows that songs, poems and drama are important methods to communicate messages and play an important role in shaping the local HIV/AIDS discourse.