Aboriginal Youth and Their Experiences in Physical Education: “This is What You’ve Taught Me”

In this paper, I incorporate Shawn Wilson’s (2008) understanding of relationality and relational accountability as I tell the story of my own involvement with Aboriginal youth and the lessons they have taught me about their experiences in physical education. For years, I have been challenged to find ethical ways to share the perspectives of the young people who have chosen to take time to work with me in my research program. Shawn Wilson’s book, Research as Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods provides the direction I was seeking as I use his integrated approach of blending the personal with the professional, science with art, to communicate my research findings. By writing an open letter to the Aboriginal youth who I’ve worked with over the course of my career, I hope to respectfully convey their thoughts and ideas about physical education. In an initial qualitative research study involving Aboriginal youth, the youth told me how they want to be involved in their school gyms and sports teams, and how they have many role models encouraging them to be active. They also told me about not being active; how the change room, difficulty fitting in, and racism keeps them from fully participating. In this paper, I share what they’ve told me in a personal narrative that also includes autoethnographic reflections (Carrington, 2008; Richardson, 2000) designed to show how my thinking on race, whiteness and equity has been influenced by my relationships with Aboriginal youth. By sharing what I have been taught, I hope physical educators will be inspired to create more inclusive and culturally affirming physical education climates for all youth, and in particular, for Aboriginal youth in Canada.