Dr Simone Marino is a Research Fellow in the ECU Social Ageing (SAGE) Futures Lab within the School of Arts and Humanities and Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Education.
Background
Dr Simone Marino is a Research Fellow in the Social Ageing (SAGE) Futures Lab. The SAGE team are leading research in social care across the life course, contributing social science perspectives and methodologies to the creative and caring professions.
Dr Marino’s interdisciplinary expertise focuses on ethnic identity, migration and ageing and dementia studies, grounded in ethnographic research. He is currently developing a new evidence-based music intervention ‘Comusichiamo’ to support first language connection in older Italians living with dementia. This project explores the co-creation of songs and the relevance of music, migration life-storytelling, and first language to support the cultural identity and wellbeing of people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds with dementia. Simone also a CI on the NHMRC funded MRFF project ‘Befriending with GENIE’.
In addition to academic writing, Simone has shared his research initiatives through the Australasian Centre for Italian Studies newsletter, Australian Ageing Agenda and he has been interviewed twice for SBS Italian and twice has contributed to Inpress magazine.
Originally born in Rome, Simone completed his Master's in Cultural Anthropology at Sapienza University of Rome. He migrated to Australia in 2010, obtaining his PhD in Sociology and Anthropology at The University of South Australia, where he also worked as a Lecturer in Sociology, Intercultural Communication, and Italian Studies for more than 12 years.
Alongside his Research Fellow position at the SAGE Futures Lab, Simone is an adjunct researcher at the University of Adelaide.
Simone is a strong community advocate and spends several days each week working as a Music and Cultural Engagement Consultant at InCasa Aged Care and Community Services based in Fremantle, Western Australia.
He is also a musician, with over 25 years of experience as a musical performer, songwriter and composer.
Research areas and interests
Ethnomusicology and dementia
Simone combines his knowledge of traditional Italian instruments, and regional Italian dialects (spoken by migrants in Australia), with his passion for enhancing the wellbeing of CaLD older people with dementia. His collaborative music workshop takes place in a series of sessions involving Italian immigrants and their families and utilises reminiscence and autobiographic memory. Simone is accompanied by an assortment of traditional instruments he takes to the homes and aged care facilities he visits, including a guitar, a Calabrian lyre, a piano accordion, and the Calabrian bagpipe and ghironda (Italian hurdy-gurdy).
The spoken oral histories of the participants, when combined with songwriting, create emotionally cathartic soundscapes and individual life soundtracks in a culturally tailored format. In its preliminary stages, this approach showed evidence of enhancing physical and social engagement and contributed to the general wellbeing of people from migrant backgrounds living with dementia. Participants demonstrated improved mood and increased communication and interest; as participants were found to be interacting with Simone and answering his questions. Simone has been invited to share the significance of his project on various platforms, having been interviewed twice by SBS Italian, the first, available bilingually and the second in English. He has also been interviewed by Australian Ageing Agenda and contributed to the Australian Care Research & Industry Innovation Australia (ARIIA) and the Australasian Centre for Italian Studies newsletter.
Migrants’ ethnic identities
Simone’s research centres on Italian migrants’ construction and transmission of ethnic identities, their narratives, and their maintenance or loss of languages and ‘cultures’ within multicultural societies. Additionally, he explores family alliances, spiritual kinships and socioeconomic relations. His investigation on the disjuncture of cultural practices between the Italians in Australia and those living in Italy, examining matters of ‘authenticity’. In 2020, Simone published an ethnographic book titled, “Intergenerational Ethnic Identity Construction and Transmission among Italian-Australians: Absence, Ambivalence and Revival.” This book draws on three years of ethnographic research, during which he studied the ethnic identity of three generations of Italian-Australian families. Simone's book, studies, and career journey were the subject of an article and interview by SBS Italian in the same year.
Anthropological approaches to ageing and dementia
Simone combines his experience as a professional musician within the field of ethnomusicology. Due to the major absence of anthropological research with CaLD older people living with dementia in Australia, Simone is passionate about investigating the needs gap for this cohort of people. He aims to advance social science knowledge in Ageing Studies by extending conceptual knowledge on dementia, music, and cultural and social identity. Simone is a fervent proponent of a pioneering music engagement initiative, that integrates anthropology, sociology, and corporeal theories to foster the wellbeing of migrants. Informed by the phenomenological approach, Dr Marino emphasises the corporeality of music, recognising its profound impact on migrants’ embodied experiences. Through this lens, Simone explores the intersection of music, culture, and the body, invoking a holistic perspective informed by existential philosophy. His work stands as a testament to the transformative power of music, sociocultural understanding, and corporeal awareness in migrant communities' holistic health.
Professional associations
- Research Fellow at Social Ageing (SAGE) Futures Lab
- Australasian Centre for Italian Studies (ACIS) Honorary Research Fellow
- The Australian Sociological Association (TASA)
- Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG)
- Australian Anthropological Society (AAS) Fellow member
- National Ageing Research Institute (NARI)
- Creative People, Products and Places (CP3), University of South Australia
- Asian Australian Studies Research Network (AASRN)
- Oral History Australia SA/NT
- TASA Migration, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism Thematic Group
- TASA Sociology of Music Thematic Group
- Research Centre for Languages and Cultures (University of South Australia)
Awards and recognition
National and International awards
- 2020 - Inpressmagazine, Citizen Journalism and News Magazine (an Italian magazine of culture and society) Autori in Viaggio (travelling authors) prize for the book Intergenerational Ethnic Identity among Italian-Australians. Absence, Ambivalence and Revival as “best ethnographic investigation 2020”. (18thOctober, Rome).
- 2019 - Honorary Research Fellow Award from the Australasian Centre for Italian Studies (ACIS).
- 2019 - The Australian Sociological Association (TAJA) Precarious Work Conference Scholarship, Western Sydney University, by AProf Dan Woodman, TASA President, for my presentation ‘Beyond authenticity. An ethnographic reflection on Italians in Australia and Italians in Italy’.
- 2017 - Inpress Magazine, Citizen Journalism and News Magazine (an Italian magazine of culture and society) for my book Calabresi ad Adelaide, l’esperienza migratoria vissuta dai suonatori tradizionali. (24th September, Rome).
- 2015 - Finalist in the Three Minutes Thesis Competition, University of South Australia.
- 2012 - Award of La Voce di Tutti (the people’s voice) by the director of special issues of the Rome City Council Journal for the ‘exceptional quality’ of my book Calabresi ad Adelaide, l’esperienza migratoria vissuta dai suonatori tradizionali.
