An Ethnonarrative Approach to Arts-Based Programming for Marginalized Youth

• In Event: Deconstructing Research Silences through Qualitative Research

Abstract

This inquiry explores the use of ethnonarrative as a method of studying and generating knowledge regarding youth culture within the context of arts-based programs. It examines the use of arts-based programs as a therapeutic, preventative, and rehabilitative outlet for marginalized youth. Drawing on ethnographic research of a Toronto based organization, SKETCH - Working Arts for Street Involved and Homeless Youth, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and the collection of artistic contributions by the youth, are used to create a narrative understanding of the role the arts play in the youths’ lives with respect to personal and social development, along with the interaction between youth and social institutions. The impact of this research will: 1) illustrate how ethnonarrative can be used as an epistemological guide in the study of youth culture; 2) explore the need for the expansion of arts-based programming and prompt further research into this type of therapy. This research contributes to the growing scholarship on arts-based methods involving the creation of social change in the lives of marginalized youth.

Author

• Amber Dawn Vibert, University of Ontario Institute of Technology