Reflections on the idea of Latin America and its contributions to southern occupational therapies

• Published in: Cadernos de Terapia Ocupacional da UFSCar Vol. 29; pp. 1 - 14
• Main Authors: Díaz-Leiva, Mónica Matilde, Malfitano, Ana Paula Serrata
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: São Carlos Federal University of Sao Carlos (UFSCar), Department of Occupational Therapy 01.01.2021
• Subjects: Colonialism; Narratives; Occupational therapy; Otherness; Postcolonialism; Latin America
• ISSN: 0104-4931; 2238-2860
• DOI: 10.1590/2526-8910.ctoEN1961

Southern Occupational Therapies are those localized practices that have emerged from various communities of occupational therapists that put into motion a capacity to remember and think about themselves concerning their concrete practices and knowledge produced from Latin America and the global south (Oliver, 1990; Barros, 1991; Guajardo, 1992, 2012, 2016; Galheigo, 2003; Herrera & Valderrama, 2013; Zorzoli et al., 2014; Duarte et al., 2016; Testa et al., 2016). [...]as indicated by the social theories that discuss these different approaches, each narrative must be analyzed as constitutive, evaluative and informative helping to define the practices it describes, going beyond a mere terminological distinction (Benhabib, 2006). [...]categories such as anti-colonialism, Latin-Americanism, post-colonialism, decolonialism, subaltern studies, among others, address different productions of academic knowledge, some of which can create an essentialist image of Latin America and discursively a sphere of marginality and exteriority, considering the forces that knowledge-producing institutions were experiencing at that time" (Castro-Gómez, 1998, p. 3). [...]the importance of making an abbreviated review of four issues that arise from these various perspectives and that seem to us to trigger a chain of reflections on Latin America and its relationship with Southern Occupational Therapies. First debate: