Unsettling White Settler Child and Youth Care Pedagogy and Practice

Abstract

<jats:p>In 2018, using in-depth, semi-structured, collaborative dialogues, I asked 11 child and youth care practitioners working in various Canadian provinces, including British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, “How do you understand, name, reproduce, contest, and struggle with White settler privilege?” The intent was to name and challenge the dominant Whitestream norms in child and youth care. This project was inspired by the significant work of Indigenous and racialized activist–scholars to address the ongoing overrepresentation of Indigenous families across colonial systems in which child and youth care practitioners work, such as the child welfare and justice systems, and the underrepresentation in others, such as educational systems. Participants named colonial violence and systemic racism as entrenched in child and youth care practice while recognizing the difficulty of challenging dominant White norms and conventions in the classroom and field. I explore how this key finding unsettles child and youth care pedagogy and practice. In closing, I propose two practical ethical pathways towards unsettling White settler privilege in child and youth care.</jats:p>

Queering Cyc Praxis: What I Learned From Lgbtqi+ Newcomer, Refugee, and Immigrant Student Experiences in Canada

“…In 2010, when the listserv was posted, I would have agreed with this respondent. Now, with the knowledge I had gleaned from Addy, Bailey, and the many critical CYC scholars calling for more politicized, historicized, and critically self-reflexive CYC practices (Amponsah & Stephen, 2020;Igbu & Baccus, 2018;Loiselle et al, 2012;Mackenzie, 2020;Vachon, 2020), I understand that a historicized and politicized praxis is necessary if we hope to make moments meaningful for young people in truly ethical ways. If that work includes jargon, so be it.…”

“…My answer to the call to engage in a more politicized and historicized CYC praxis is long overdue and I take inspirational cues from other White cisgender CYCPs and scholars who have already begun to respond (see, e.g., Gharabaghi, 2017;Hillman et al, 2020;Mackenzie, 2020;Skott-Myhre, 2017;Vachon, 2018). Using an autoethnographic approach, I discuss the personal and professional insights I derived from writing a short graduate study paper on the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and other non-heterocisnormative (LGBTQI+) 1 newcomer, refugee, and immigrant students in Canada, many of whom are racialized.…”