Engaging the occupational imagination: Meeting in diversity

This article provides a reflection on the 2017 Occupational Science Europe conference through a critical occupational science lens. I first provide a key synopsis of lines of arguments forwarded in a keynote talk I delivered at this conference, titled ‘Embracing a critical turn in occupational science: Contributions and future possibilities’. I then draw upon one of the key directions forwarded in this talk as a means to further enact a transformative agenda through critical occupational science to reflect on how ‘meeting in diversity’ fostered critical alertness. In particular, the strategy of ‘meeting in diversity’ with occupation as a common ground fostered critical dialogue regarding the situated, political and relational nature of occupation and the root causes of occupational injustices through providing opportunities to be exposed to diverse perspectives on occupation from across Europe and beyond. Occupational scientists, in diverse contexts and in diverse ways, are engaging a critical occupational imagination as a means to make a difference in the world, and embracing diversity appears to be an especially productive way forward in enacting a transformative agenda

Embracing and Enacting an ‘Occupational Imagination’: Occupational Science as Transformative

This paper addresses the question of how occupational science can move forward in its development as a socially and politically engaged discipline. It is argued that a transformative approach to scholarship needs to be embraced, and that enacting such an approach requires a radical reconfiguration of the sensibility underpinning occupational science. After reviewing the key defining characteristics of a transformative paradigmatic approach, key insights regarding how to foster a radical sensibility in occupational science are drawn from C. Wright Mills (1959) conceptualization of ‘the sociological imagination’. Embracing an occupational imagination premised on these key insights would foster the transformative potential of occupational science by providing a sensibility that challenges scholars to make critical, creative connections between the personal, occupational ‘troubles’ of individuals and public ‘issues’ related to historical and social forces. Five key areas of action crucial to attend to in order to move forward in cultivating an ‘occupational imagination’ are outlined, including: pushing beyond the limits of dualistic thinking; attending to the socio-political nature of occupation; addressing the moral and political values that shape and energize occupational science work; questioning the familiar, and exploring the unfamiliar; and, engaging in innovative interdisciplinary syntheses

Mobilizing occupation for social transformation: Radical resistance, disruption, and re-configuration

Background. Given the sociopolitical roots of widening occupational, social and health inequities, it is imperative that occupational therapy move forward in mobilizing occupation for social transformation. Purpose. Three key aims are addressed: articulating the imperative to mobilize occupation for social transformation; highlighting the political nature of occupation and occupational therapy; and providing guideposts for embracing a radical sensibility to inform moving forward in mobilizing occupation for social transformation. Key issues. Conditions of possibility within occupational therapy leave the profession ill equipped to enact social transformation. Enacting calls to mobilize occupation for social transformation requires radically reconfiguring these conditions of possibility to inform practices that resist, disrupt, and re-configure sociopolitical conditions perpetuating occupational inequities. Implications. Mobilizing occupation for social transformation holds much potential to contribute towards creating more equitable, humane societies. Realizing this potential involves committing to transforming our profession, as well as societal discourses, structures, systems, relations, and practices

Situating occupation in social relations of power: Occupational possibilities, ageism and the retirement ‘choice’

Introduction: Research attending to social relations of power can enhance understanding of the mechanisms through which occupational injustices occur and inform socially transformative practice. This study explored how power operates through ageism in ways that shape what people come to take for granted regarding occupation in relation to age, and what occupations are supported through socio- political conditions. Methods: Narratives were collected using a two-stage interview process with 17 retired Canadians. A critical narrative analysis approach was employed to examine how these narratives revealed the complex ways occupations are negotiated within broader discourses and age relations. Findings: Ageism mattered for how and when individuals came to retire and for occupational possibilities in the realm of work. Informants conveyed experiences of being marginalised, displaced and disempowered in the work force and, at times, internalised ageist discourses to make sense of when and how they came to retire. Conclusion: Within the study context, social relations of power related to age influenced occupational possibilities for work and bounded retirement ‘choices’. A focus on power in relation to occupation as it intersects with a variety of social markers can provide a nexus to inter-connect socially transformative work in occupational therapy and occupational science, advancing the shared intent of promoting human flourishing through occupation

Producing precarity: The individualization of later life unemployment within employment support provision

There have been marked policy shifts within many nations towards ‘extended work lives’, with such shifts often underpinned by an assumption that individual aging citizens can make the responsible choice to prolong work and thereby avoid dependency on the state. However, possibilities for extended work lives are inequitably distributed, and older workers who become unemployed often face prolonged unemployment and barriers to obtaining sustainable employment. Drawing on findings from an ethnographic study addressing the negotiation of long-term unemployment in two North American cities, this article attends to how jobseekers aged 50 and older, employment support service providers, and organizational stakeholders understood and attempted to manage later life unemployment. Employing a critical discourse analysis approach informed by a gov- ernmentality perspective, the findings illustrate how possibilities for framing the problems faced by older job- seekers and for managing later life unemployment were constrained by broader individualizing neoliberal mandates. Despite recognition of systemic barriers tied to ageism and its intersection with other axes of disad- vantage, stakeholders and service providers enacted a narrow individualized approach to manage ageism. This individualized approach, in turn, produced tensions within service provision and shaped precarity for older jobseekers through encouraging them to be ‘realistic’ regarding the types of work and wages available to them as older workers. If the extended work life agenda continues to be politically promoted as a key solution in the management of population aging, it is imperative to re-configure policy and service approaches to avoid the downloading of insurmountable barriers onto older jobseekers in ways that increasingly produce precarious lives marked by uncertainty, instability, and vulnerability

Discerning the social in individual stories of occupation through critical narrative inquiry.

Calls to ‘transcend the individual’ in occupational science have emerged in recognition of the boundaries of individualistic perspectives and the drive to develop a socially responsive science. In this article, we contend that transcending the individual does not equate to neglecting how individuals make sense of and experience occupation; rather, it requires looking at individual constructions of experiences and occupations in critically informed ways that highlight the socio-political influences on those constructions. This discussion article considers how critical narrative inquiry can be taken up as a methodological approach to interpretively link individual ‘stories’ with social ‘stories’ or discourses, enabling further understanding of occupation as a situated and transactional phenomenon. Drawing on data from a study that is attending to transactions of policy, service, and individual perspectives of long-term unemployment, we illustrate how a critical approach to narrative interpretation highlights boundaries, resistance, contradictions, and tensions that provide insights into the situated nature of occupation

Occupational Therapists as Street-Level Bureaucrats: Leveraging the Political Nature of Everyday Practice.

BACKGROUND.: As front-line service providers who often work in systems regulated by governmental bodies, occupational therapists can be conceptualized as street-level bureaucrats ( Lipsky, 1980/2010 ) who effect and are affected by policy. PURPOSE.: Drawing on understandings from a study of long-term unemployment, this article proposes that occupational therapists, as street-level bureaucrats, respond to inter-related policies and systems in ways that can perpetuate, resist, or transform opportunities for doing and being. KEY ISSUES.: By highlighting practitioners\u27 everyday negotiation of governmental, organizational, and professional power relations, the notion of street-level bureaucracy illuminates the political nature of practice as well as the possibilities and boundaries that policy can place on ideal forms and outcomes of practice. IMPLICATIONS.: Framing occupational therapists as street-level bureaucrats reinforces practitioners\u27 situatedness as political actors. Mobilizing this framing can enhance awareness of occupational therapists\u27 exercise of discretion, which can be investigated as a basis for occupation-focused and emancipatory forms of practice

Negotiating the Insider/Outsider Researcher Position within Qualitative Disability Studies Research

The subjectivity of qualitative researchers can be a contribution to qualitative research which at the same time requires commitment to on-going critical reflexivity regarding one’s positionality. More specifically, we address how to navigate the possibility that researcher subjectivity can culminate in role-confusion when the researcher is highly familiar with the research setting or research participants, when positioned as an “insider.” We do this by adopting a critical paradigm approach that investigates the efficacy of “unlearning” as a strategy for challenging one’s assumptions as a researcher, particularly those assumptions that challenge the co-construction of knowledge that extends from research presuppositions. Drawing upon theoretical and methodological literature, we argue that intersubjective reflection is crucial to the process of unlearning. By critically reflecting on subjectivity, it becomes possible to deconstruct our research approach and its underlying assumptions, as well as our research findings. In turn, this creates space to unpack our role in how these approaches, assumptions, and findings are formulated, as well as space to challenge and reformulate these based on dialogue with participants. Through critical reflexivity addressing subjectivity and positionality in the context of research relations, researchers are challenged to consider how their insider knowledge, based on their individual experiences and personal meanings, can impinge on the research process

The Challenge of Successful Integration for Francophone Immigrants within Minority Communities

A critical ethnography was undertaken to explore the integration experiences of French-speaking newcomers from visible minority groups residing with the London, Ontario Francophone minority community. Findings highlight a complex negotiation process involving learning the tacit social norms characterizing the host society

Resource Seeking as Occupation: A Critical and Empirical Exploration.

Occupational therapists and occupational scientists are committed to generating and using knowledge about occupation, but Western middle-class social norms regarding particular ways of doing have limited explorations of survival occupations. This article provides empirical evidence of the ways in which resource seeking constitutes an occupational response to situations of uncertain survival. Resource seeking includes a range of activities outside formal employment that aim to meet basic needs. On the basis of findings from 2 ethnographic studies, we critique the presumption of survival in guiding occupational therapy documents and the accompanying failure to recognize occupations that seem at odds with self-sufficiency. We argue that failing to name resource seeking in occupational therapy documents risks alignment with social, political, and economic trends that foster occupational injustices. If occupational therapists truly aim to meet society\u27s occupational needs, they must ensure that professional documents and discourses reflect the experiences of all people in society