# data[].attributes.headline
Chapter 5 - Indigenous Youth & Social Identity 

# data[].attributes.subject
Chapter 5 - Indigenous Youth & Social Identity 

# data[].attributes.body
While all minority groups face some degree of pressure to assimilate to the dominant culture, the Indigenous people of Canada have faced more pressure than most. And this assimilation faced by the Indigenous people, unfortunately, was not voluntary. Colonization, being the expansion of territory through the acquisition of Indigenous populations’ lands, has forever changed the history and lives of the Aboriginal people. Exploitation of these people through involuntary, coersive assimilation (residential schooling, the Indian Act (1876) and reservation system) has led to a loss of their beautiful culture, traditions and heritage. The loss of these thing has brought about intergenerational trauma, where residential schooling has left a disconnect between the youth of today and the generation before them. Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society is a non- profit organization whose main goal is to “build on the strengths of Aboriginal children, youth, and their families to enable them to develop spiritually, emotionally, physically and mentally so they can walk proudly in the Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal communities” This organization provides programming for Aboriginal youth and families with traditional indigenous values, traditions and teachings that are lost to the youth of today. In order for proper re-embedding to occur we must look at what has been lost, and look at how we can gain it back for the cycle of cultural alienation to end. at how we can gain it back for the cycle of cultural alienation to end.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Welcome to Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society!

Bent Arrow is a non-profit organization that provides unique programs and services to Edmonton's urban Aboriginal population. The organization was created in 1994 when Brad and Shauna Seneca identified the need for programming for Aboriginal children and families based in traditional Indigenous values and teachings. Today, Bent Arrow's remains to "build on the strengths of Aboriginal children, youth, and their families to enable them to develop spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally so they can walk proudly in both the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities." Programs and Services range from youth employment programs and comprehensive family services to supported referrals and soup and bannock lunches. Bent Arrow prides itself on building relationships of trust in the community by working closely with its and offering culturally based and face-to-face programming. Everyone involved with Bent Arrow - employees, partners, funders, supporters, Board members, community members, and friends - becomes part of the Bent Arrow family.

Donate Online

Have you heard of CanadaHelps.org? CanadaHelps make online fundraising affordable, easy, and secure. Through CanadaHelps.org, anyone can donate online to any registered Canadian charity. Bent Arrow is a registered charity! This means that you can donate to us quickly and easily. If you would like to know more about Bent Arrow before donating, please feel free to call us or drop by!

CanadaHelps assesses a small 3.9% transaction fee on donations which means that 96% of your donation goes directly to Bent Arrow. In addition, your official tax receipts can be sent by email immediately following the completion of your donation.
Make a Donation
The New in Town Aboriginal Welcome Service is the first of its kind in Canada. We welcome and support Aboriginal families and individuals who are new to Edmonton. Our service is coordinated, mobile, culturally driven, hands-on, and accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We can point you in the right direction and refer you to appropriate services such as employment, elder services, housing, culture, and education.
Click here for more information.
Boyle Street Community Services' mission is to "build and provide community support for people with multiple barriers to community inclusion." Founded in 1971 with the support of the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities, Boyle Street started as a street-front agency called the "Co-op" in Edmonton's inner city. Since then, through assertive outreach, client-centered case management, and hands-on problem solving, Boyle Street has helped many marginalized and high-risk people meet basic needs, develop skills, and engage with the community. Visit the Boyle Street Community Services website to learn more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society! Bent Arrow is a non-profit organization that provides unique programs and services to Edmonton's urban Aboriginal population. The organization was created in 1994 when Brad and Shauna Seneca identified the need for programming for Aboriginal children and families based in traditional Indigenous values and teachings.

# data[].attributes.headline
Chapter 4 - People, Places & Ethnic Identities

# data[].attributes.subject
Chapter 4 - People, Places & Ethnic Identities

# data[].attributes.body
The concepts of ethnicity, race, nationality and heritage have always been, and will most likely continue to be, a topic of much debate. And despite the amount of media and academic attention that these topics generate today, it is common to see and hear people using these terms interchangeably like they mean the same thing. These terms do not mean the same thing though, but there is a common thread among them; each term/ category helps us define who we are as an individual and how we see ourselves in the world. It should be remembered that identities are created within a social context and are subjective to each and every individual.

In this blog post, the author identifies the specific differences between these terms and how they affect an individual’s identity. This identification is especially important for bicultural youth who may not see themselves as part of either the dominant culture they are a part of, or the minority/ heritage culture they are a part of. There are many implications and consequences to these terms being used interchangeably, such as adaption patterns (how well an individual can integrate or adjust to the dominant culture, while still being able to hold onto their own heritage or minority culture) and the experiences they will have with their families, education, identity, relationships, and psychological / sociocultural adjustments.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ethnicity vs. Nationality vs. Race vs. Heritage vs. Culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ethnicity, Nationality, Race, Heritage, Culture, Identity: these terms can be confusing, to say the least. It's quite important that we familiarize ourselves with the differences of each, and this post aims to give you a brief overview.

# data[].attributes.body
Growing up in today’s society is harder than it has ever been. There are new biographical problems that generations before us have never had to face. And in a world where individuals have a multiplicity of essences, ones gender and sexual identity may be a topic of debate. For many people their gender identity isn’t just about the way they physically appear (male or female) or whom they are attracted to, but it’s about the way that they feel on the inside, even if it doesn't match who they are on the outside. These youth and individuals are known as gender variant, transgender(ed) or gender creative. The idea of not matching how feel on the inside with who you are on the outside is an incomprehensible burden that cisgender youth don’t have to face. Unfortunately for the youth who do face this confusing, 56% will face some form of bullying, 90 % will hear transphobic comments and 78% don’t feel safe at school. These youth face higher rates of suicide, bullying, and victimization. In this article the researchers talk about the lasting implications victimization on youth within the LGBTQ community have on their health and psychological adjustments throughout their life in today’s society.

# data[].attributes.body
As the wage gap between the rich and poor grows larger and more disproportionate, the social gap between the classes grows as well. Neighbourhoods in Canadian cities are becoming increasingly more segregated among income lines with unequal distributions of resources among individuals in society. The promise of equal education, for example, providing a more promising future for ALL youth in society is becoming harder to accomplish. This unequal distribution of resources in society leaves some schools well-equip for providing every possible opportunity through things like funding and technology (higher income neighbourhoods) and some with the bare minimum, the basic resources to learn in a class room (low income neighbourhoods). As shown by the data gathered by the Fraser Institute, the youth of Edmonton are no exception.  When comparing a high school from the north side of Edmonton (Eastglen) where the parents average income is around 53,000$, to a high school on the south side of Edmonton (Strathcona) where the parents average income is around 106,000$, there are immense differences between things like average exam marks (58.5 % vs. 69.7%) to diploma completion rate ( 47.1% vs. 82.1%). These immense differences leave some youth geared for success and others deemed to failure, allowing the gap in economic status to continue from one generation to the next.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Compare academic rankings and ratings of Alberta schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Good high schools in Calgary, Edmonton and other Alberta cities based on school ratings and rankings

# data[].attributes.headline
Chapter 12 -  Youth identities & Culture

# data[].attributes.subject
Chapter 12 -  Youth identities & Culture

# data[].attributes.body
History is traditionally taught from top down, looking at life from the higher social classes and the elite to the lower social classes. We as a society are taught that there is a dominant class (the elite) which is followed by the subordinate class (which put at its simplest is striving to be like the dominant class) which generally give rise to subcultures.  In most advanced capitalistic societies, the middle working class youth emerge with subcultures as a resistance to being marginalized and oppressed by the dominant culture. These subcultures create their own norms, language, music, and looks to differentiate themselves from what everyone else is trying to be. And what most of society may not directly realize is that subcultures have had a substantial impact on history and politics today.  For example being “punk” meant and was concerned with anti- establishment, anti- authoritarianism, equality, freedom, free thought and non-conformity, issues which are still prevalent in today’s society among politics and youth. This quick clip gives a small glimpse into what one subculture has done for the changes in youth and the changes in society.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.entities[].name
Tone Ska & Punk Defeated UK 's National Front

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
#RUDEBOY: Subculture (Two Tone) + the birth of the #Punk: Subculture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this video see the birth of British youth subculture's PUNK and how ska and punk gave birth to 2TONE..please like the #SUBCULTURE facebook page here for all info on up and coming music events https://www.facebook.com/Subculture1979

# data[].attributes.body
Childhood and adolescence has not always been what we know it to be today. Previous to present-day children and youth were seen as mini adults, being immersed into the adult world from a very young age. This however began to change towards the beginning of the twentieth century. Social reformers started to denounce the traditional ideology of child to adult at a young age, and started to build what we know as adolescence today.  From the industrial revolution, through the wars, the great depression and every other social process, this documentary (Teenage) shows how social reformers and youth themselves fought to have their own distinct stage in life. It shows how the rising youth had distinct needs separate from those of adults.  And although there was a growing distinction from child to adult there was still a need for some responsibility. “Teenage” shows how youth have struggled and challenged the adult world to define who they are and who they were to become in a world that had never seen adolescence as a stage of life. “Teenage” is an example of everything we have learned throughout chapter one, from the construction of childhood through to the construction of youth culture.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
'Teenagers' didn't always exist. In this living collage of rare archival material, filmed portraits, and voices lifted from early 20th century diary entries, a struggle erupts between adults and adolescents to define a new idea of youth.

# data[].attributes.body
As the evolution of human dependence on technology continues to develop with each succeeding generation, so does the homogeneity between identity and youth in our digital age. Youth today, teens specifically, are more aware of how digital info and technologies can play a major role in forming identity. With the availability of online access higher than it has ever been, it is easy to see how social media platforms and new emerging technologies can blur the lines of one’s identity from the actual self (who you really are – how you think, how you act, feel, look…) to the ideal self (how we want to be, how we want to been seen.) Society today is constantly connected to social media through smart phones, tablets, computers… it’s no wonder that the blurring of the actual self and the ideal self is a new biographical problem that this generation faces that previous ones did not. This article is drawing attention to how technology in society may be “stealing” our actual selves, and how we are becoming too reliant on technology to define our self-image, our identities, in this digital age.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Our self-identities, that is, how we define and see ourselves as unique individuals, play a vital role in who we are and the direction that our lives take. The self- identity encompasses the totality of knowledge and understanding that we gain about ourselves as we develop including our personalities, aptitudes and capabilities, intellectual and physical attributes, interests, and relationships.

We gain our self-identities in two ways. First, as we develop self-awareness, we observe and evaluate our thoughts, feelings, and behavior based on past experience, current needs, and future goals. We also look outward to the world in which we live, for example, social, academic, and physical, for feedback that also shapes our self-identities. Because we are fundamentally social beings and an essential part of our development involves finding our place in the social and cultural context in which we live, feedback from that social world plays a significant role in the evolution of our self-identities.

Because our social worlds have expanded dramatically in the last decade, from families, friends, neighborhoods, and schools to an almost-limitless universe of people due to the proliferation of the Internet and social media, it isn't difficult to see how external forces may now be gaining a disproportionate influence over our self-identities compared to previous generations. And these social influences, accelerated by the recent explosion of technology, may be shaping our self-identities in ways in which most of us aren't the least bit aware.

One of the most powerful ways in which technology is altering self-identity is through the shift from being internally to externally driven. Yes, as I just described, social factors have always had an impact on the formation of self-identity, but they had been, up until recently, partners of sorts with our own internal contributors to self-identity. But now the sheer ubiquity and force of the latest technological advances has taken that influence and turned its volume up to a deafening roar.

In previous generations, most of the social forces that influenced our self-identities were positive; parents, peers, schools, communities, extracurricular activities, even the media sent mostly healthy messages about who we were and how we should perceive ourselves. Yes, there were bad influences, but they were far outweighed by those that were beneficial. These forces acted mostly as a mirror reflecting back on us what we saw in ourselves, resulting in affirmation rather than change in our self-identities.

But now, the pendulum has swung to the other extreme in a social world where the profit motive rules and healthy influences are mostly drowned out by the cacophony of the latest technology. The self-identities of this generation of young people and, in fact, anyone who is deeply immersed in popular culture and media, are now shaped by external forces in two ways.

First, popular culture, through both "old-school" and the latest media, no longer holds a mirror to reflect our self-identities. Nor does it provide feedback about how grounded our self-identities are in the reality of our lives. Instead, popular culture manufactures "portraits" of who it wants us to be. Tapping into our most basic needs to feel good about themselves, accepted, and attractive, popular culture tells us what we should believe about ourselves. The problem is that the self-identity that is shaped by popular culture serves its own best interests rather than what is best for us. Additionally, self-identity is no longer self-identity, meaning derived from the self, but rather is an identity projected onto us by popular culture and in no way an accurate reflection of who we really are.

Second, social media has caused us to shift away from expressing our self-identities and toward constructing facades based on the answers to these questions, "How will others look at me?" and "How can I ensure that others view me positively?" The goal for many now in their use of social media becomes how they can curry acceptance, popularity, status, and, by extension, self-esteem through their profiles and postings. Self-awareness and self-expression give way to impression management and self-promotion. As the writer Christine Rosen observed in her 2007 article in The New Atlantis, "Does this technology, with its constant demands to collect (friends and status), and perform (by marketing ourselves), in some ways undermine our ability to attain what it promises-a surer sense of who we are and where we belong? The Delphic oracle's guidance was know thyself. Today, in the world of online social networks, the oracle's advice might be show thyself."

We come to see our identities as those we would like to have or that we want people to see rather than who we really are. We then feel compelled to promote and market these identities through social media. The line between person and persona, private and public self become blurred or erased completely and the so-called self-identity becomes a means of our acceptance and status.

Paradoxically, in striving for approval by our social world writ large through technology and in seeking uniqueness that enables us to stand out in the densely populated cyber world, we unwittingly sacrifice our true self-identities and shape our identities to conform to what the digital world views as acceptable identity. And, in doing so, we relinquish the specialness that we hold so dear. Notes Christine Rosen, "Indeed, this is one of the characteristics of MySpace [obviously before Facebook took off]...it is an overwhelmingly dull sea of monotonous uniqueness, of conventional individuality, of distinctive sameness."

There are two really sad things about this unintended consequence of the use of these emerging technologies. First, most people have no idea of the dramatic changes that are occurring slowly yet inexorably within them (just as a frog doesn't sense it is going to die if placed in water that is heated slowly). Second, this shift in identity, from internally derived to externally driven, can't be good for us as (formerly unique?) individuals nor for us as a (formerly vital?) society.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Technology: Is Technology Stealing Our (Self) Identities?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One of the most powerful ways in which technology is altering self-identity is through the shift from being internally to externally driven. And these outside influences, accelerated by the recent explosion of technology, may be shaping our self-identities in ways in which most of us aren't the least bit aware.