Spaces & Places: Understanding Sense of Belonging and Cultural Engagement Among Indigenous Youth

Abstract

Indigenous youth continue to live with a socioeconomic and political legacy of colonization and marginalization, confronted by environments harmful to their psychosocial development. Resource strained communities may compound these experiences and outcomes for many youth. Increasingly, research points to the mitigating effects of resilience for youth exposed to contextual risks. Resilience is however dependent on both personal capacities and the availability of relevant resources within families, schools, and communities. Meaningful connection to community together with cultural continuity are important contributors to resilience. However, without critical examination of the conditions that support such youth engagement, attempts at fostering these connections may be largely unsuccessful. Spaces & Places explored the cultural continuity and civic engagement of Indigenous youth living in three communities of Atlantic Canada. Using an interactive, transactional theory of resilience, we explored how youth interact with community resources, and how these interactions impact connections with their community and culture. Participatory qualitative image-based methods were used to explore the availability of spaces and how they establish a sense of belonging to community and culture for youth. We used video capture of a day-in-the-life of participants with photo elicitation in reflective interviews, within a Participatory Action Research framework. Youth and community partners actively participated in the research process, including data analysis and knowledge mobilisation.