At-Risk? An Inquiry Into the Experiences of Urban Aboriginal Youth

• In Event: 56.062 - Counterstories and Communities in Narrative Inquiry

Abstract

In 2013 we began working alongside urban Aboriginal youth in an after-school program. While the program focused on wellness, we were committed to co-creating a narrative inquiry research space alongside urban Aboriginal youth and their families. This paper is centered on the experiences of three of the Aboriginal youth mentors within the program. Drawing on the narrative accounts of the three youth, we wonder what might happen if we look at the experiences of Aboriginal youth from an at-promise perspective (Boykin, 2000) rather than at-risk? Through this narrative inquiry study a counter story surfaced shining a light on the knowledge these mentors bring to the program, disrupting the dominant narratives of Aboriginal youth in this particular urban centre.

Authors

• Brian Lewis, University of Regina

• Lee Mason Schaefer, McGill University

• Sean Michael Lessard, University of Alberta