An Examination of Cross-Cultural Mentorship in Alberta’s Future Leaders Program

Abstract

Purpose

In this chapter we examine cross-cultural mentorship within Alberta’s Future Leaders (AFL) program, an initiative in which mainly non-Aboriginal youth workers and arts mentors mentor Aboriginal youth in Aboriginal communities in Alberta through the use of sport, recreation, and arts for development.

Design/methodology/approach

We use an exploratory case study methodology in concert with semi-structured interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and archival research. We use Foucauldian discourse analysis to analyze our results.

Findings

We identified two dominant discourses that shape AFL: first, mentorship can help Aboriginal youth to avoid negative life trajectories and, second, youth leadership development is universal. We argue that sport, recreation, and arts for youth development that does not prioritize cultural relevancy and does not attend to issues pertaining to colonialism’s legacy risks, in a Foucauldian sense, disciplining Aboriginal youths in ways that reaffirm colonial relations of power between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.

Originality/value

This chapter focuses on sport, recreation, and arts for youth development within a marginalized segment of the Canadian population: Aboriginal youth.

Citation

Galipeau, M. and Giles, A.R. (2014), "An Examination of Cross-Cultural Mentorship in Alberta’s Future Leaders Program", Sport, Social Development and Peace (Research in the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 147-170. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1476-285420140000008007