posted on 2021-05-24, 10:36authored byCaitlin Wood
It is vitally important that Indigenous Youth are provided a forum to express and share their unique expertise and profound knowledge on all matters that affect and impact their lives. Through the use of photo-voice, this qualitative study provided the space for eleven youth from the Northern Village of La Loche, Saskatchewan to share their perspectives on their community, their lives, and how childhood should be conceptualized. Employing the theoretical frameworks of Sociology of Childhood, children’s rights, Indigenous culturally responsive method and a desire-centred research framework, four over-arching themes emerged; the importance of: i) relationships; ii) health and well-being; iii) knowledge; and iv) community and culture. The youth in this study demonstrated their enormous capacity to identify and share their unique perspectives on their community and proficiencies in assessing their community’s strengths and challenges – further demonstrating that youth are not merely passive subjects of social structures, but competent citizens able to contribute to change in authentic ways.