A Commentary of Occupational Justice and Occupation-based Community Development Frameworks for Social Transformation: The Marikana Event

Abstract

Background:The Occupational justice framework is significant in enabling communities to collaborate with occupational therapists to strengthen social vision and enhance occupational potential. It has been highlighted that the occupational justice framework could be used in conjunction with Occupation-based Community Development programmes to enrich social transformation through engagement in community-led occupations. However, little is known about the applicability of both occupational justice and Occupation-based Community Development frameworks in designing programmes for communities that experienced collective trauma. Purpose: This commentary explores the Marikana event in terms of the occupational justice framework and its outcomes of occupational injustice. It further unpacks the occupation of protest and the factors predicting protest using the Marikana event. Conclusion:The applicability of Occupational Justice and Occupation-based Community Development frameworks can help occupational therapy clinicians, educators, and students collaborate with communities through a cycle of critical consciousness to achieve social vision, transformation, and healing. Recommendations are provided in relation to community-centred occupational therapy practice, education, and future research within a South African context.

Exploring professional theories, models, and frameworks for justice-oriented constructs: a scoping review

“…Constructs were defined as "central" when they clearly served as the main focus of the article; constructs were "peripheral" when another topic was central and they were included or mentioned but not in a detailed or integrated fashion. The majority of articles originated in Canada (n = 14, 31%; (Benjamin-Thomas & Rudman, 2018;Grenier, 2020;Hammell, 2011Hammell, , 2013Hammell, , 2016Iwama et al, 2009;King et al, 2006;Law, 1993;Martins & Reid, 2007;Restall et al, 2018;Townsend et al, 2003Townsend et al, , 2011Vrkljan, 2005;Wieringa & McColl, 1987), the United States (n = 12, 27%; (Agner, 2020;Causey-Upton, 2015;Clifton & Taff, 2021;Grady, 1995;Gupta, 2006;Jaegers et al, 2020;Muñoz, 2007;Schaber, 2002a;Taff et al, 2014;Taff & Blash, 2017;Talero et al, 2015;Wood et al, 2017), Australia (n = 7, 16%; (Frew et al, 2008;Goh et al, 2019;Hitch & Pepin, 2021;Nelson, 2007;Pereira, 2017;Pereira et al, 2020;Whiteford et al, 2018), South Africa (n = 3, 7%; (du Toit, 2008;Janse van Rensburg, 2018;Mthembu, 2021); and Brazil (n = 2, 4%, (Malfitano & Lopes, 2018;McInerney et al, 2007) with the remaining seven articles each representing a single country including Croatia…”

“…Only five (11%) were classified as theories, and two were described by the authors as paradigms (4%). Of these TMFs, several were described in more than one publication, including Critical Race Theory (e.g., (Grenier, 2020;Nelson, 2007), the Kawa River Model (e.g., (Iwama et al, 2009;Nelson, 2007), and Occupational Justice as a Framework (e.g., (Benjamin-Thomas & Rudman, 2018;Chichaya et al, 2018;Mthembu, 2021). Most of the publications were focused on clinical practice (71%), followed by education (52%) and research (18%).…”

Decolonial turn of collective occupations in post-apartheid South Africa: Young people's voices of occupational legacy

“…Hence, the process of co-construction is important in the occupation-based community development (ObCD), as the production of knowledge emanates from the multiple of realities in a context 42 . This addresses coloniality of knowledge by viewing young people as part of assets-based community development (ABCD) whereby relationships are built with the intentions to recognise individuals with gifts and skills 21 .…”

“…Democracy was implemented to dismantle the legacies of apartheid; however, it is noted that in the post-apartheid era the colonised families are still entrenched in the colonial practices and patterns of power that result in a family disruption and inequalities, which is perceived as coloniality of families 20 . In the post-apartheid era, families and young people are still experiencing occupational injustices, inequalities, and breathing under colonial conditions 21 . This resonates with Frantz Fanon's theory of the zone of non-being in Black Skin, White Mask, which accentuates that people continue to live in "an extraordinarily sterile and arid region" 22:10 where indigenous cultures of the colonised families have been subverted by the "political, capital and educational dominance" 23:487 .…”