The culture of soup

 

 

Fasloen Adams

MSc Occupational Therapy (UCT); Lecturer: Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Witwatersrand

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

This paper aims to demonstrate the way in which our cultures influence our occupations. It looks at how a woman's occupation of cooking and distributing soup is influenced firstly by the broader culture of the community in which she lives; secondly, by her religion; and lastly, by the Cape Malay culture to which she belongs.
The information for this paper was gained through two unstructured interviews, which were analysed to identify the aspects of the above that influenced her occupational performance.
During the occupational therapy process, it is important that occupations, that are meaningful for clients, are supported and sustained. This paper demonstrates that in doing so, we, as occupational therapists should recognise, acknowledge and respect the impact that culture has, on not only clients' choices of occupation but also the meaning they attach to these occupations and their engagement in them and that we need to develop an understanding of other cultures to do this.

Key words: culture, occupation, Muslim, Cape Malay, cooking

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Correspondence:
Fasloen Adams
School of Therapeutic Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand
7 York Rd.
PARKTOWN 2193
fasloen.adams@wits.ac.za