The (dis)obedient occupational therapist: A reflection on dissent against disciplinary propaganda/ O terapeuta ocupacional (des)obediente: uma reflexão dissidente contra a propaganda disciplinar
Keywords:
Consensus, Critical Theory, Occupational Therapy, Dominance Subordination, Politics, Social OppressionAbstract
Introduction: Despite struggling to establish itself as an autonomous profession, occupational therapy remains extensively regulated and controlled by discursive authorities inside and outside the discipline. After overcoming the profession’s reformist ideals, the military governance that supported its rapid expansion morphed into civil institutions but both were based on similar grounds: occupational therapists should obey a strict set of rules while disobedience and dissent are consistently repressed or silenced. Objective: The objective of this article is to deconstruct dominant (consensual) discourses that shape the status quo in occupational therapy and envision alternative paths for the development of the discipline. Method: Drawing on the work of Erich Fromm and Jacques Rancière, we propose a (critical) theoretical analysis of the concepts of disobedience and dissensus as they apply to occupational therapists. Results: The concepts of disobedience (Fromm) and dissensus (Rancière) can be used to revisit the consensus shaped by discursive authorities inside and outside occupational therapy and expose the political nature of such processes. We argue that remaining oppressive forces similar to those of a warfare regime persist in regulating occupational therapy practice and knowledge by enacting a form of ‘disciplinary propaganda.’ Rather than threatening the development of the discipline, disobedience and dissensus constitute critical responses to disrupt dominant discourses and give rise to healthier concepts. Conclusion: The use of politically charged terms such as disobedience or dissensus can be seen as controversial and unsettling for a profession like occupational therapy but we believe they are necessary for the future of our discipline.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Brazilian Journal of Occupational Therapy
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The “Statement of Responsibility, Copyright and License Agreement” according to the model below must be signed by all the authors and sent during the article submission.
Statement of Responsibility, Copyright and License Agreement
Submission date:
Paper’s Title:
I, the undersigned, hereby certify that:
I participated in the conception of the paper and make public my responsibility for its content.
- All information concerning any source of funding received for the development of this research has been properly disclosed and made available to the editors during the submission.
- There were no connections or agreements between authors and funding sources that constitute any conflict of interest, potential or apparent, that may affect the results of the research.
- If experiments with human or animal subjects were involved all ethical procedures were followed and approved by an Institutional Review Board and that informed consent has been collected and archived when necessary, and the dissemination of images was authorized and I assume full responsibility for it.
- That the manuscript is original and that the research is not in part nor in whole currently submitted to another periodical, either in print or in an electronic format, nor is any other material of my authorship with substantially similar content so submitted.
- If requested, I will provide and cooperate fully in obtaining and providing data on which this text is based, for the editors’ examination.
- I have read and agreed with the terms of the Open Access and License Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY), available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Authors’ full names and signatures list: