ABSTRACT
In this paper we draw on two Canadian narrative inquiries: the first study inquired into the experiences of youth who left school before graduating; the second study inquired into the experiences of Aboriginal youth and families in an urban junior high school. Our scholarly and personal interests intertwine in these two studies as we understand lives narratively, as unfolding, enfolding, nested compositions. The first narrative inquiry raised wonders for us about the experiences of many youth, but particularly Aboriginal youth, in schools. Out of these lingering wonders, we framed a second narrative inquiry into the educational experiences, both in and out of school, of youth and families of Aboriginal heritage. Our research puzzles were framed around collaboratively inquiring into the home/community/school experiences of Aboriginal youth and families and the ways that these experiences are shaped by cultural, social, historical, linguistic, and institutional narratives. Our intent in this methodological paper is not to show the results of either study but to show how inquiry threads from one study shape further narrative inquiries. In order to show the reverberations across the two studies, we pull forward some of study one and outline briefly the design and purposes of study two.
