"Miss I just Don't Feel Like Reading Today": Urban Aboriginal and Black Nova Scotian Youth Perceptions of the Relationship Between Education, Health, and Wellbeing
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This research study explores the reciprocal relationship between education, health, and wellbeing for urban Aboriginal and Black Nova Scotian learners. The purpose is to identify health and wellbeing factors that influence and correlate with their perceptions of education. The research was guided by an Indigenous research methodology. The social determinants of health, critical race theory, and tribal critical race theory create a theoretical framework. The Mi’kmaq Medicine Wheel defines health and wellbeing. Four focus groups: five junior high Black learners; five high school Black male athletes; three young urban Aboriginal females not in school; four urban Aboriginal youth attending the Friendship Centre, tell stories that reveal (1) learner identities are constructed as antiquated personas, (2) subtle acts of racism and colonization are tolerated and resisted, (3) poverty is a key determinant of racialized learners’ schooling, and (4) teachers’ capacity to build relationships informs learners’ opportunities to earn a good education.