Meanings and representations of human activity for occupational therapists in Brazil

Abstract

The constitution of professional terminologies, as in the case of occupational therapy, is interfered by linguistic, sociocultural and political contexts, provided by power relations. The statement “human activity” is expressive in the Brazilian context, but is faced with the use of other terms and little investigation into its meanings, deepening and conceptual contradictions. This research sought to map the construction of conceptual meanings and cultural representations of the statement “human activity” in the speeches of occupational therapists in Brazil. An archaegenealogical and cartographic intervention research was carried out, with the composition of three excavations on: scientific discourses, professional reports and narratives about experiences. Each excavation advances in contextual immersion and records meanings of a statement interwoven by criticism and sensitivity, which has been supported by experiences of transformation. Based on experiential meanings, it delved deeper into possible cultural representations that favored this statement in the process of professional empowerment, bringing together six marks of social, political and epistemological formation in the context: positioning opposition to oppression; expression of popular empowerment through social transformation; constitution of the professional perspective as a social right; expansion of the professional fundamentals base; focus on the process, with a transdisciplinary tendency; and a search for criticism, coherence and responsibility in the face of the dilemmas of the world and the production of knowledge.