Reflections on occupation, cultural identities and social transformation

When I was so kindly invited to the XVI CCTO conference this past year in Medellin, one of the lasting impressions of that short visit was the folk cultural content, using music and dance, of many of the presentations. This made it a very different experience to other occupational therapy conferences I have attended. The significance of cultures seemed integral to practice, for example with indigenous people and with people living in rural areas, as well as to the positioning of occupational therapy in its historic place within recent Colombian history. What was very different to me as a British person was that these performances involved something that everyone seemed to know and to be able to participate in. The strength of this shared aspect of culture, which may reflect some aspects of the rich variety of traditions in Colombia, was impressive. It led me to reflect on the community focus of human purposeful occupation as t he ‘collective doing’ that constitutes culture. This reflective paper will discuss some aspects of occupation and culture as the product of collective doing for the community focus of human purpose. It will consider occupation and culture against the background of the use of occupation for health, and as a basis for socially transformative practices. It will draw on some aspects of Colombian and UK folk cultures and some of the reasons why practitioners might be careful to respect the integrity of these assets, as well as their capacity for innovation, adaptation and change as living culture