Occupation’s Role in Producing Inclusive Spaces: Immigrants’ Experiences in Linguistic Minority Communities

Abstract

While the “situatedness” of occupation in the context of migration has been explored using various approaches, there remains a need for a holistic and dynamic understanding of the concept of space and the spatiality of occupation. Adopting Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space and taking a transactional approach to occupation, we examined the role of immigrants’ occupational engagement in the production of Francophone minority community spaces in Metro Vancouver, Canada. We completed a critical ethnography and focus on findings from participant observations and in-depth and go-along interviews with French-speaking immigrants. Findings shed light on the influence of immigrants’ occupational engagement on the production of minority spaces. To study the spatiality of occupation comprehensively, we need to move beyond an examination of the immediate environment to address other components of the production of space as well as the interrelation of spaces through occupation.

Cultivating social occupations, spaces, and networks: service providers’ perspectives on enabling immigrants’ social participation

“…Specifically, this study makes a novel contribution to the literature by outlining how institutions can play an important role in addressing barriers to immigrants' social participation by cultivating social occupations, spaces and networks. Our work can thus inform collaborative advocacy between researchers, therapists, and community service providers, and contributes to the growing body of occupational therapy literature on the importance of immigrant social participation (Mirza, 2012;Gupta & Hocking, 2018;Delaisse et al, 2021;. Whiteford (2003) has articulated the need to adopt a communitarian perspective within occupational science research.…”

Occupation’s Role in Inclusion of Spanish-Speaking Older Adults in a Senior Center

“…Occupational scientists have highlighted, in other settings, the role of occupation in creating social norms, spaces, and cultural movements, particularly from the perspective of groups within a community ( Kantartzis & Molineux, 2017 ; Simaan, 2017 ). Studies of other linguistic minorities have emphasized the nuanced ways in which immigrants manage and develop new spaces, mostly among themselves ( Delaisse et al, 2021 ; Johansson et al, 2013 ; Wijekoon et al, 2021 ). Yet, few have highlighted the role of non-immigrants in community occupation in response to immigration.…”

“…Ethnography, which often includes participant observation, document review, interviews, participatory activities, and fieldnotes as its main data collection methods ( Lassiter, 2005 ), is well-suited to capture multi-faceted layers of community, power, environment, politics, and occupation ( Bailliard et al, 2013 ; Fine et al, 2003 ). Occupational scientists have often utilized ethnography to explore community-level occupation ( Bailliard, 2013 ; Delaisse et al, 2021 ; Huot, 2013 ; Kantartzis & Molineux, 2014 ).…”