In the shadow of occupation; racism, shame and grief

In Freud’s seminal paper on mourning and melancholia (1917) he stated that ‘the shadow of the object fell upon the ego’ (p249). This poetic phrase, which refers to the difficulty a person may have in relinquishing a... [ view full abstract ]

In Freud’s seminal paper on mourning and melancholia (1917) he stated that ‘the shadow of the object fell upon the ego’ (p249). This poetic phrase, which refers to the difficulty a person may have in relinquishing a loved and lost object, provided the authors with a theoretical foundation to think through meaningful encounters within their occupational therapy research and practice. By drawing on their reflexive accounts from two doctoral research projects, they will describe moments of shame, loss and grief in relation to encountering aspects of race and racism within their respective studies.
The authors draw on theories of intersubjectivity (Benjamin,2004) racism, (Straker,2004, Atkar,2014) and clinical reasoning (Egan,2007) within the qualitative research tradition of reflexivity (Finlay, 2002, and Pillow, 2003). Acknowledging the loss for an ‘other’ (i.e. the client), for oneself (i.e. an idealised researcher-therapist) and/or the professional endeavour (OT) can allow for new relationships and learning to occur.
The repeated rhetoric within the profession of the positive outcomes that can be achieved through empowerment and enablement may cast a shadow of a disavowal on complexity and complicity, which could prevent the painful and necessary process of mourning to proceed. Educational theorists, such as hooks (1994) and Zembylas (2013), encourage us to authentically engage with students through the use of their and our troubling knowledge.
Our experience suggests that clinical and research discussions which include stories of shame, grief and failure can assist in developing ethically reflexive practitioners who can learn from misunderstanding and their (inevitable) mistakes