Coming together
In this section I will connect my literature review to certain elements from the Youth Justice program that stood out the most.
ACCEPTABLE SPACES
Lessard's, S., & Caine, V. (2015). A Narrative Inquiry into Familial and School Curriculum making: Attending to multiple worlds of Aboriginal youth and families, Journal of Youth Studies, 18 (2), pp. 197–214.
- The Wabano centre acting as an after school hangout serves to make it a perfect space where social worlds intersect. Not only are the youth using this space as a cultural hangout, the rest of the community, including their families, are also using it in that manner. Self-identity formation and building that takes place within this centre would then be brought out to their other social settings such as school. An example of this would be the "Dream Team" that takes place every Wednesday. These youth are taking their space and virtually transferring it to another cite thus inviting old and new members into their community and space. Just like in Lessard and Caine, we can see the lives of the youth at Wabano intersecting and being shaped institutionally, socially, and politically. I feel that the implementation of the "Dream Team" is almost a fight back towards hegemonic normality thus making the "leak" into other worlds a positive one.
INDENTITY FORMATION
Hatt, B. (2007). Street Smarts vs. Book Smarts: The figured world of smartness in the lives of marginalized, urban youth,The Urban Review, 39 (2), pp. 145 – 1.
- A lot of the youth that are apart of this program would consider themselves to be "street smart." As highlighted in the article, youth stated that you could only be "street smart" if you had experienced a "hungry mouth." While visiting the centre and speaking about their program "Youth Kitchen" I was told that it was really nice for the kids to be able to not only cook the food together but to eat. It was also stated a majority of these youth look forward to Friday night because it is one of the first full meals they have had this week.
STRUCTURE, AGENCY, CAPITAL
Brooks, C.M., Daschuka, M.D., Poudrerea, J., & Almond, N. (2015). First Nations Youth Redefine Resilience: Listening to artistic productions of ‘Thug Life’ and hip-hop, Journal of Youth Studies, 18 (6), pp. 706–725.
- "Beats for Peace" and "Love Art?" are two programs that demonstrate two of the five elements of Hip Hop. "Beats for Peace" allow for the adolescents to expressively write as well as collaborate with others. "Love Art?" allowed the youth to produce Indigenous art and to be imaginative with their creations. For this activity they also had the opportunity to work with a local artist as well as their peers. In the creation of music and design of their mural, this demonstrates they display youth driven resilience.
INTERVENTION AND SUPPORT
Pardue, D. (2004). ‘Writing in the Margins’: Brazilian Hip-Hop as an Educational Project. AEQ, 35 (4): 411 – 432.
- Although not exact in resemblance, the Youth Justice program does demonstrate elements of Pardue's research. His research was conducted within a correctional facility and demonstrated that it was a useful tool to educate individuals who never had the opportunity to receive formal schooling. I feel that the Indigenous youth are experiencing the opposite. A majority of the time they have the opportunity to receive formal schooling, but this formal schooling is saturated with hegemonic dominance. What the Youth Justice program is doing, unknowingly, is using the HHBE as a tool to educate adolescents on their cultural heritage, thus helping them cultivate active citizenship and self identity formation.
POLICY AND CONTEXT
Sampson, A., & S. Themelis (2009). Working in the Community with Young People Who Offend, Journal of Youth Studies, 12 (2): 121 – 137.
- What I enjoyed aobut this article is that it gives an example of the typical situation that a youth offender goes through when they are completing probation and how officers go about predicting whether they will re-offend. It is common practice to use tools that resemble the "at risk" and "what works" frameworks as described in the Sampson reading. This type of predicting and label placing can have a negative impact on the rehabilitation of youth. The Youth Justice program is doing the opposite of the standard. They are creating a space that is culturally appropriate and welcoming. Although the youth in question may still be receiving "at risk" assessment, Wabano can act as a counter balance in that they supply programs that help these youth form identities and receive the rehabilitation they deserve.