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To present my findings from this research project, I have created this website. The current section, "Fighting Marginalization", serves to further contextualize the importance of engaging with the topic of marginalized youth in relation to educational programs specifically and schooling in general. I will introduce current relevant research in the field of education, discuss the connections that the work that Bboyizm does to the specific themes of identity formation, the celebration of culture, youth agency, confidence and empowerment, and the power of role models, to name a few. "Bboyizm" will provide a brief description of the company, it's mandate, accomplishments, partnerships, key features, as well as the details of my interview with dancer-choreographer Crazy Smooth. The "Connect and Reflect" section will reintroduce the pertinent themes discussed in Crazy Smooth's interview/present in the Bboyizm website, and connect them to current literature on marginalized youth and the importance of such types of programs for the integration and empowerment of youth "in the margins" in their own education. I will also offer my own comments and reflections on my own learning over the course of this class and through the completion of this project. Finally, the "References" section provides a detailed list of the websites and articles which I consulted in the creation of this project.
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Identity FormationIt can be argued that one of the most crucial tasks in lives of youths is to figure out 'who they are'. Discovering one's identity is an incredibly difficult journey, one that can be compounded by an array of factors that are now present in the lives of youth. For this reason, programs like Bboyizm, which encourage identity formation of diverse groups of youth, using non-traditional methods, are so important. For example, in a study conducted with marginalized youth in Australia, Bottrell (2007) found that instead of simply complying with the hegemonic, socially dictated, marginalized identities prescribed for them by the dominant members of society, these youth instead sought out ways to create new identities for themselves.
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(Emdin, 2011) in order to “position the culture, social context, learning styles, and experiences of students at the center of the learning experience” (Love, 2014, p. 445). This theoretic framework, along with the previous themes of identity formation, cultural diversity, youth agency and resilience, and adult role models, combine together to provide the lens through which to view the importance of Bboyizm and the important work it is doing with marginalized youth in Canadian communities through street dance and hip hop culture.
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