Navigating and Resisting Barriers: Somali-Canadian Youth's Experiences in Edmonton's Public Schools

• Author / Creator

  Mokhtari, Mitra Kaitlyn Bates

• Based on 13 in-depth interviews with young Somali-Canadians, this research sought to explore the experiences of students in Edmonton’s public schools. Given the literature interrogating anti-Black racism and carceral logic within schools, including the specific ways that authority figures – teachers, guidance counselors, school resource officers – can impact student’s experiences, this research explored if, and to what extent the experiences of these 13 young people were reflective of this literature. This research found that these students experienced a number of barriers and challenges during their time in public schools. These challenges included low expectations, experiences with streaming, inadequate resources, surveillance and discipline, and anti-Black and anti-Muslim racism. However, this research also explored the ways that these successful students navigated these challenges, developing methods and sites of resistance. These sites of resilient resistance and community cultural wealth were found within the their schools, peers, families, communities, and within themselves. This research contributes to the ongoing conversation regarding anti-Black racism in Canada and attends to specific experiences of 13 young Somali-Canadian living and learning in Edmonton.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Racism
  • Racialized Barriers
  • Anti-Racism
  • Public Schools
  • Resistance
  • Edmonton
  • Somali Youth

• Graduation date

  Fall 2018

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3J38M048

• License

  Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.