Making music together: a transdisciplinary approach towards the development of intercultural awareness

In South Africa the segregation laws of the apartheid years had an impact on contacts and interactions between cultural groups, which led to prejudice, intolerance and painful intercultural experiences. The influence of the past is still evident in present-day South African society, despite greater mobility between different cultural groups. This paper reports on four research studies that investigated how social work and the arts together can explore ways to facilitate contact between diverse groups that will lead to positive experiences. The aim of these studies was to create an opportunity to develop intercultural awareness through joint music-making in an attempt to address prejudice and intolerance. The paper will firstly discuss how a transdisciplinary approach can be utilised. Secondly, the paper posits that making music together is a way to assist diverse groups to explore their own cultural understandings, to 'hear the voices' of other cultures, and to move towards greater intercultural awareness that could enhance tolerance in a diverse society. Thirdly, the hermeneutical perspective will be presented as an aspect of the process to support the development of awareness between diverse groups. Concluding recommendations focus on how making music together can become a form of intercultural social work.