Adult learners’ and educators’ perceptions of how racialized habitus and cultural capital impact Indigenous students’ experiences in the field of one Winnipeg adult learning centre

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2024-08-24
Authors
Boyce, Joel
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract

Indigenous learners are overrepresented in Manitoba adult learning centres (45% province-wide). Indigenous organizations like the Centre for Aboriginal Human Resource Development (CAHRD), have introduced literacy and adult learning programs to meet the educational needs of their communities. According to Pierre Bourdieu’s (1984) social reproduction thesis, schools tend to preserve existing social inequity across generations. But could the opposite be true in an Indigenous-led adult learning centre (ALC) explicitly designed to achieve better outcomes for Indigenous learners? This case study of Indigenous learner experiences at CAHRD’s Aboriginal Community Campus ALC draws primarily on data collected via semi-structured interviews of seven Indigenous adult learners and four adult educators, with the analysis of the interview transcripts applying a two-cycle coding process (Saldaña, 2016). The interview scripts and code list draw on neo-Bourdieusian and critical race theory scholarship. The findings from this study suggest that a number of factors influence Indigenous adult learners’ ability to reach their educational goals at the ALC. The provision of critical resources such as daycare, nutrition programs, and counselling referrals are often key. Social structures in the school are also found to be effective in shifting learner habitus in tandem with the building up of educational and cultural capital. Because these act in opposition to those observed by Bourdieu, reducing rather than preserving inequity, I label them as emancipatory field structures. This study’s findings also suggest significant opportunities for improvement in Manitoba adult education as a whole, with CAHRD’s ALC as a potential model. Implementing these improvements would require an expanded investment in adult learning by the provincial government, but this cost would be more than justified by the societal benefits.

Description
Keywords
Bourdieu, critical race theory, settler-colonialism, anti-colonialism, adult education, Indigenous education, racial capitalism, racialized habitus, cultural capital
Citation