ABSTRACT
The expanding array of new media offer many different ways in which young people can actively engage in media making and exchange. Although such activities might be very localized in terms of their immediate production processes and relationships, they also have the potential to create global products, both in terms of their distribution and audiences (through the Internet) as well as in the resources on which they might draw for inspiration. Youth cultures may have local references and influences, but they are also increasingly global, allowing young people from very different parts of the world to recognize, identify with, and utilize similar styles of music, fashion, graphics, and dance. These global styles are not exclusively derived from the U.S. mainstream, but include other influences and countercultures. Contemporary popular music, for example, often incorporates a range of different styles, bringing them together to create new forms. For children who have experienced migration, separation, and new settlement and who are living their everyday lives with different cultural influences, these developments are particularly significant, and they also raise several interesting questions for educators and researchers involved with youth media work. What media do young migrants and refugees draw on when making their own productions? What role can media production play in communicating the experiences of migration? How are such productions received and interpreted by other youth? Can such productions form part of research looking into the lives and experiences of young people? What are the implications for media education, particularly in the context of intercultural exchange and learning?
