Publications and Resources

Spotlight Resource:

Social Transformation through Occupation Evolving Premises

These premises, and accompanying questions, were presented at OSE 2025 as starting points for dialogue and should not be interpreted or used as as finalized premises and do not represent the “view” of the ISTTON Network. Rather these premises are meant as a beginning place for discussion around guiding and identifying social transformation through occupation projects and work.

Title: A Collective Critical Analysis and Positioning of Actions for Social Transformation

Abstract: For those who seek to advance social transformation through occupation by employing research, practice, activism, and volunteer experiences, it is essential to continually critically reflect on initiatives and programs through theoretical-methodological analysis that asks: What social transformation is being produced and towards what kind of society? The first aim of this workshop was to instigate a critical collaborative analysis of initiatives – and the occupation(s) they hope to mobilize for social transformation. The second aim, through large group discussion, was to articulate questions, values, and principles that drive social transformation work. This was a potential initial step towards the development of frameworks within the International Social Transformation Through Occupation Network (ISTTON) that can be utilized to regularly examine assumptions and values related to social transformation, methods, and evaluation.

Workshop facilitators opened dialogue by critically examining two initiatives currently underway, identifying key questions and analytical approaches that revealed facilitatory or problematic qualities of the projects’ processes. Facilitators then invited participants to form small groups to examine additional example projects. The objective was to create an authentic and supportive space for critique and interrogation based on presented analytical frames of projects oriented toward social transformation through occupation. Rooting this objective in concrete initiatives allowed for clearer examinations while instigating important discussions about how to evaluate this work and its underlying values. The intention was to foster analytical capacities to examine social transformation initiatives while generating concrete actions to support current work underway.

Premise	Questions for Prompting Critical Analysis and Reflexivity
Actors are engaged in ongoing critical reflexivity throughout the process.	How are positionalities of all the people in the collective acknowledged, honoured, and negotiated? What values underpin the initiative? How have these been identified and are they transparent? What “positive” outcomes or vision is being worked towards? How was this vision developed? How is it being sustained and/or adapted as the initiative develops? How open is the initiative to unlearning and reconfiguring problematic structures and practices? Is openness to unpredicted directions maintained? How are barriers or obstacles identified and resisted, including power relations in which an initiative is situated? How is awareness of possible contradictions and conflicts maintained? How are issues of sustainability of processes and outcomes being addressed? Are impacts on nature and other living beings considered?
Transformation addresses social elements and power relations.	What social issue(s) and power relations are being problematized and addressed through this initiative? What social element(s) and power relations are being transformed/intending to be transformed (e.g., discourses, relations, practices, systems, other)? What sort of society or social vision is the initiative working towards? And who was involved in shaping this social vision? What forms of oppression and/or inequities does this initiative aim to address? What theoretical lens/lenses or concepts inform the analysis of the issue(s) and the transformative aims? Do these lenses center social elements and power relations?
Transformation processes are enacted through equitable participation, building on strengths, and countering oppressive power relations.	How does the initiative resist and disrupt oppressive power relations in how it is being carried out? What types of relationships are promoted, developed, and supported amongst those working together? To what extent and how are the people impacted by the social issue(s) involved in defining the initiative’s aims? To what extent and how are the people impacted by the social issue(s) being addressed involved in analyzing the issue(s)? To what extent and how are the people impacted by the social issue(s) being addressed involved and supported in generating and enacting actions aimed at transformation? How are the strengths of all those involved in the collective processes identified and built upon?
Analysis and mobilization of occupation is necessary in the enactment of social transformation.	How is occupation, broadly understood and variously labelled (e.g., human doing, “doing together”, everyday life), part of this initiative? How have the occupations involved been selected and implemented? How has the contextual relevance of occupations been addressed? How is occupation being understood/addressed in ways that connect it to social transformation? Is the importance of “doing together” maintained at the core of the initiative?

Publications from ISTTON:

van Bruggen, H., Craig, C., Kantartzis, S., Rudman, D. L., Piskur, B., Pollard, N., Schiller, S., & Simó Algado, S. (2020). Case Studies for social transformation through occupation. European Network of Occupational Therapy in Higher Education.

https://enothe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ISTTON-booklet-final.pdf

Laliberte-Rudman, D., Pollard, N., Craig, C., Kantartzis, S., Piškur, B., Algado Simó, S., van Bruggen, H., & Schiller, S. (2018). Contributing to social transformation through occupation: Experiences from a think tank. Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2018.1538898

https://enothe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ISTTON-booklet-final.pdf

Ongoing Dialogues

Dr. Brenda Beagan shares information and advice around professionalism and activism. (June 11, 2024)

Dr. Chantal Christopher’s slides from her discussion on Acts of Doing, Dissonance, Disruption and Defiance: Building Critical Resistance into Practice (May 22, 2025)