Samantha Dieckmann is a postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Melbourne. Her research project represents a collaboration between the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions and the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, sitting between CHE's Performance and Shaping the Modern programs. Working together with Professor Jane Davidson and the directorship of CHE's new industry partner, Multicultural Arts Victoria (MAV), Samantha's research explores the deployment of music in conciliation as it relates to personal, religious and political areas of conflict, and the processes of emotional community and empathy that lead to resolution.
Samantha recently completed her interdisciplinary PhD at The University of Sydney, researching the musical lives of South Sudanese Australians, Filipino Australians and White Australians in Blacktown, New South Wales. In particular, she examined the ways in which cross-cultural musical contact and exchange enact identity formation and community development, reflecting individual and collective attitudes towards multiculturalism and integration. Her interest in the ways that music can be used to foster emotional well-being and empathy can be traced back to her First Class Honours thesis on community music programs with refugees and asylum seekers in Sydney, and since 2009 she has been part of a research team led by Associate Professor Kathryn Marsh (The University of Sydney) on a subsequent project in this field. Publications resulting from this project have included a co-authored article in The Routledge Handbook of Intercultural Arts and Research (2016).
She has taught in research methods and music education courses at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, The University of Sydney. Beyond her personal academic interests she contributes to the study and practice of music in her capacity as the assistant editor of the international, peer-reviewed journal Research Studies in Music Education.
Contact
samantha.dieckmann@unimelb.edu.au
Research
Music, Emotion and Conciliation
Selected Publications
Dieckmann, S. and J. W. Davidson. ‘Public Pedagogy and Its Hidden Curriculum in an Intercultural Community Choir’. In The Politics of Diversity in Music Education, edited by A. Kallio, S. Karlsen, K. Marsh, E. Saether and H. Westerlund. Forthcoming, Springer, 2021.
Dieckmann, S. and J. W. Davidson. ‘Intercultural Relations Through Music’. In The Science and Psychology of Music: From Beethoven at the Office to Beyoncé at the Gym, edited by W. F. Thompson and K. N. Olsen. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2021.
Dieckmann, S. and J. W. Davidson, eds. ‘Peace, Empathy and Conciliation through Music’, special issue, International Journal of Community Music 12.2 (2019).
Dieckmann, S. and J. W. Davidson. ‘Peace, Empathy and Conciliation through Music’. International Journal of Community Music 12.3 (Dec 2019): 293–99. DOI: 10.1386/ijcm_00001_2
Dieckmann, S. and J. W. Davidson. ‘Intercultural Relations Through Music’. In The Science and Psychology of Music: From Mozart at the Office to Metallica at the Gym, edited by W. F. Thompson and K. N. Olsen. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2019. Forthcoming.
Dieckmann, S. and J. W. Davidson. ‘Emotions’. Music and Arts in Action 6.2 (2018): 29–44.
Dieckmann, S. and J. W. Davidson. ‘Organised Cultural Encounters: Collaboration and Intercultural Contact in a Lullaby Choir’. The World of Music (new series) 7.1&2 (2018): 155–78.
Selected Presentations
Panel Presentation: ‘Restaging Fear: Affective Translation and Empathetic Engagement Through Intercommunity Performing Arts Practices’, Association of Social Anthropologists Conference, University of Oxford, UK, 21 September 2018.
Public Lecture: ‘Lullabies of Our Lives: Singing Multicultural Harmony’, ‘Music on the Mind’ public lecture series, Melbourne Recital Centre, 25 June 2018.
Conference Paper: ‘Examining Music as a Performative Object: Intertwining Methodological Approaches from History of Emotions and Music Research’, Third International Conference of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions ‘The Future of Emotions/Conversations Without Borders’, The University of Western Australia, 14–15 June 2018.
Conference Paper (with Jane W. Davidson): ‘Lullabies, Trains and Platforms: Staging Public Ethnomusicology after the Coburg Rallies’, British Forum for Ethnomusicology Conference, Newcastle University, UK, 12 April 2018.
