Abstract
Increasingly, Indigenous resilience research is demonstrating the importance of relational resources located within contexts, including relationships with others and relationships to land, in promoting positive psychosocial outcomes for children. In particular, research is showing that increased cultural engagement by Indigenous young people in Canada is linked to improved psychosocial outcomes and significantly reduced rates of suicide. Such knowledge is crucial given the high rates of suicide amongst these young people, stemming from the legacy of cultural genocide and continuing socio-economic marginalisation of Indigenous peoples. What we understand less well however is how communities can better facilitate this engagement. Spaces & Places used reflective elicitation narrative methods to support young people’s (aged 12–18) exploration of the contextually embedded processes that bolster cultural engagement and related positive psychosocial outcomes for young people. This participatory study has taken place in three Indigenous communities in Atlantic Canada (www.youthspacesandplaces.org). Drawing on the reflective narratives of young people in one of these communities, this chapter elucidates the ways in which participants understand their support needs in relation to their current lived experiences, and specifically how they perceive the positioning of recreation within their geographical and physical landscape together with community relationships as resilience resources that can better support their psychosocial outcomes in life.
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Funding for this project was received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grants No. 890-2011-0023).
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Wall, D., Liebenberg, L., Ikeda, J., Davis-Ward, D., Youth Participants from Spaces & Places, Port Hope Simpson. (2021). Understanding Community, Culture and Recreation as Resilience Resources for Indigenous Young People. In: Moran, L., Reilly, K., Brady, B. (eds) Narrating Childhood with Children and Young People. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55647-1_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55647-1_7
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