Abstract
Aboriginal youth in Canada continue to live with a socio-economic reality of marginalisation. They remain confronted by local and national environments harmful to their psychological and social development. Increasingly, research points to the mitigating effects of cultural engagement for Aboriginal youth and the profound impact this can have on improved psycho-social outcomes. This chapter reviews the impact of policy and governance aimed at reviving engagement with traditional culture, including language, on community-based programming within remote communities under the pervue of the Nunatsiavut Government, the body representing the Inuit of Labrador. Our focus is on the effect of this revival on the resilience processes surrounding youth living in these communities. We use both the Inuit philosophical principles of Inuit Quajimajatuqangit and Ungar’s seven tensions to understand the way in which young people’s engagement in cultural activities, including speaking Inuttitut, impact their resilience processes, as reflected in both quantitative and qualitative data from the Pathways to Resilience Study.
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Notes
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Pseudonym
- 2.
Aboriginal languages are not offered as a formal course in Canadian schools. In this particular community the school has provided access to a computer-based language program, which youth may use to learn Inuttitut informally.
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Liebenberg, L., Ikeda, J., Wood, M. (2015). “It’s Just Part of My Culture”: Understanding Language and Land in the Resilience Processes of Aboriginal Youth. In: Theron, L., Liebenberg, L., Ungar, M. (eds) Youth Resilience and Culture. Cross-Cultural Advancements in Positive Psychology, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9415-2_8
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