RESEARCH ARTICLE

 

Decolonial turn of collective occupations in post-apartheid South Africa: Young people's voices of occupational legacy

 

 

Thuli Godfrey Mthembu^I; Whelan Gwendean Julius^{I, II}; Kristen Havenga^{I, II}; Irvin Thabang Mwadira^{I, II}; Kayla Oliver^{I, V}; Megan Alexander^I

^IDepartment of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Community and Health Sciences, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa. Thuli Godfrey Mthembu: https://orccid.org/0000-0002-1140-7725; Whelan Gwendean Julius: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2107-5258; Kristen Havenga: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3517-4345; Irvin Thabang Mwadira: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3945-5590; Kayla Oliver: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1612-0758; Megan Alexander: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1174-7970
^IIWestern Cape Department of Health, Helderberg Hospital, Somerset West, South Africa
^IIINanny N Me, Growing Together, Cape Town, South Africa
^IVGauteng Department of Health, Sebokeng Regional Hospital, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa
^VAkeso Stepping Stones Addiction Treatment Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Collective occupations are a vital part of the post-apartheid South African context because they enable parents and grandparents to pass on their legacies to the young people in families and communities. However, there are social inter-generational problems such as corruption, unemployment, family conflicts and poverty that disrupt the actions of inculcating occupational legacy
AIM: This study explored young people's voices of occupational legacy in a post-apartheid South African context
METHOD: A socio-narratology qualitative inquiry was employed to gain insight from eight participants who were recruited using purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data, which were analysed thematically in a credible process
RESULTS: Five themes that amalgamated collective occupations with occupational legacy were identified: decoloniality of 'knowledge generation and transfer', decoloniality of 'doing', decoloniality of 'being', decoloniality of 'becoming' and decoloniality of 'belonging'
CONCLUSION: The findings add to our understanding of the power of occupational legacy in ameliorating the problematic situations that enabled the young people's continuity, social change and transformation through collective occupations. It is evident in the findings that the young people exerted maximal efforts to engage in occupational decision-making activities that were guided by the available opportunities so they may transition to the different contexts

Keywords: Occupational Potential, Intergenerational, Young People, Occupational Choices, Social Change And Transformation, occupational decision-making activities

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IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Continued efforts for promoting coping mechanisms are needed in occupational therapy services provided in communities to develop targeted intervention aimed at fostering resilience among young people to adapt from the stressful situations and adverse.

Ensuring appropriate wellness systems and intergenerational support for youth development should be a priority for occupational therapists to promote mental health and strengthen relationships and interdependence through collective actions to decrease anxiety, depression and stress.

 

INTRODUCTION

Collective occupations play a significant role in the post-apartheid South African context where parents and grandparents are expected to pass on their family legacies to the younger generations. In the post-apartheid era, socio-intergenerational problems such as corruption, unemployment, hunger, family conflicts and poverty tend to influence families who need to inculcate in young people the importance of legacies in townships, rural and urban areas¹². It is evident that parents, grandparents and young people are still experiencing the wounds of South African Apartheid and colonial history. Persistence of health, racial, political and economic inequalities perpetuates a legacy of family disruption³. This indicates that parents and grandparents pass on the legacy of family disruption and poverty to the young generations as a part of intergenerational transmission. However, little is known about young people's voices regarding their family and occupational legacies.

In the post-apartheid South African context, occupational therapists need to have a better understanding of the performance patterns that are transmitted from one generation to another through engagement in collective occupations between parents, grandparents and young people to impart family legacies^4-6. These family legacies comprised health related, role related, personal qualities, legacy of blame, and an emotional legacy and intergenerational activities^6,7. Yet, there is a lack of literature focusing on a strategy of occupational legacy from a family and an occupational therapy perspective, where occupations are passed on to the younger generations. The rarity of insight into occupational legacy influences how young people apply their occupational potentials to make occupational choices that invigorate occupational decision-making. Therefore, acknowledging occupational legacy as an occupational therapy strategy contributes to the richness of the profession in enabling occupational therapists to gain insight into the performance patterns such as habits, routines, roles, rituals, and practices⁸.

Intergenerational transmission of cultural resources to generations through the education system raised more critiques of the habitus because it does not focus on the family context⁹. Bourdieu's work resonates with the new strategy of occupational legacy that promotes not only knowing but doing or not doing⁹. This strategy contributes to occupational science and by exploring the young people's voices of occupational legacy as part of collective occupation in a South African context could guide professional practice. For the purpose of this paper, occupational legacy refers to passing and doing valued occupations that are socially, culturally and historically defined within a set of traditional beliefs, practices, values, attitude, knowledge and skills from one generation to another generation through connections and social participation. However, occupational legacy is a double-edge strategy that has positive and dark sides that might influence young people's human occupation and lives. An example of positive consequences of occupational legacy is evident within the Biko's family, as their mother passed on the caring ethic to her children, which is grounded on interpersonal relationships and morals¹⁰. Biko's mother's acts influenced each of her children to choose the caring professions later in their lives and uplifted others through socialisation irrespective of racial backgrounds, which resonated with the morality of duties that support the strategy of occupational legacy^10,11. Conversely, there are dark sides of occupational legacy that involve continuity of engagement in unhealthy occupations that perpetuate substance abuse, economic instability, domestic violence, criminal activities, imprisonment and vulnerabilities in families¹². Consequently, it is important that young people should learn to refine, reject, or modify their occupational legacies¹³, which could be done by adopting the critical border thinking that facilitates decolonial turn efforts.

Embracing teleological suspension disciplinarity, the coauthors have shown willingness to go beyond the discipline of occupational therapy to produce knowledge from different voices of young people¹⁴. This strengthens the epistemic decolonial disobedience that enables decolonial turn when shifting through the geography of reason^14-17. Decolonial turn refers to a "family of diverse positions that share a view of coloniality as a fundamental problem in the contemporary world"¹⁷². This indicates that young people should advocate for their existence by engaging in critical reflections that challenge the legacies of the South African Apartheid and colonised history that result in coloniality of power, being and knowledge during the period of post-apartheid¹⁸. Therefore, decolonial turn plays a crucial role in assisting the young people to reflect on how colonial memory and footprints influenced their family and occupational legacies that were passed on to them¹⁸. It is evident that decolonial turn might open the doors to the healing process where the young people could learn tacit knowledge, patterns, processes, practices, and survival skills through a strategy of occupational legacy^5,19. Additionally, decolonial turn is supported by the morality of duty that accentuates other-regarding morality that promotes relational duties such as "values of compassion, solidarity, reciprocity, cooperation, interdependence, and social well-being"^11:17. Moreover, the morality of duties involves the importance of relationships with others to promote the well-being of all, which supports personhood that is achieved through reaching out to others and helping them¹¹. Decolonial turn and morality of duties are perceived as enablers of collective occupations that facilitate occupational legacy, however, there is little research that has focused on the young people's voices of occupational legacy that has been passed on to families. Thus, this paper responds to the question: What are young people's voices of occupational legacy within a post-apartheid South African context?

Democracy was implemented to dismantle the legacies of apartheid; however, it is noted that in the post-apartheid era the colonised families are still entrenched in the colonial practices and patterns of power that result in a family disruption and inequalities, which is perceived as coloniality of families²⁰. In the post-apartheid era, families and young people are still experiencing occupational injustices, inequalities, and breathing under colonial conditions²¹. This resonates with Frantz Fanon's theory of the zone of non-being in Black Skin, White Mask, which accentuates that people continue to live in "an extraordinarily sterile and arid region"^22:10 where indigenous cultures of the colonised families have been subverted by the "political, capital and educational dominance"^23:487. The subverting actions of the coloniser persist in environments filled with social and economic inequality, dehumanisation, racism, and a capitalist agenda emanating from colonisation^24,25. Dehumanising actions of the coloniser have not only influenced the colonised families' health, quality of life and well-being, but also the young people living in adverse and challenging environments affected by corruption, unemployment and poverty^1,2,26. The young people living in the zone of non-being are exposed to precarious activities, despair, idleness, and negativity, which perpetuate not being in education, employment, or training (NEET) and their personhood and dignity are questioned^27,28. Consequently, decolonial thinkers argued that institutions such as families, communities, churches, schools and government persist with the coloniality of dehumanising the imagination and minds of indigenous people^29,30. This indicates that decolonial efforts should address the intergenerational transmission of poverty that perpetuated the legacy of coloniality young people.

Young people need to achieve open, non-oppressive identities through their connections with others, which further echoes Dr Cornel West's introductory words in Black prophetic fire "I am who I am, somebody loved me, cared for me and attended to me"^26,31,32. Therefore, family is an institution that promotes decolonial love through connectedness to others to liberate the young generation from the horrible legacy of colonial violence³³. Yet, it is inexplicit how the decolonial love, connectedness to others and morality of duties were transmitted to the younger generation to address the complexity of colonial differences that persisted to influence their understanding of the humanity and intersubjective relations in terms of power and hierarchies resulting to oppression and inferiority^34-36. Acknowledging the young people's voices will emancipate them to reflect on the process of rehumanisation of the world at individual, family and society level, which accentuates the importance of interdependence³⁵.

Young people depend on their parents and grandparents to transmit occupations related to socialisation, child upbringing, transfer of cultural activities and knowledge as well as practical skills needed for their survival in society and future³⁷. The transmission of practical skills and knowledge contributes to the strategy of occupational legacy that enables families to impart occupations to the young generations. Irrespective that the transmission is pertinent in colonised families, the South African Apartheid and colonial history of race, class, gender, ethnicity and geography persist to influence the young people's self-esteem whilst pushing them to the zone of nonbeing²⁶. This necessitates a decolonial epistemic perspective of human occupation so that the young people and their families may develop the capacities to attain a personal and group sense of belongingness^15,37-40.

Decolonial epistemic perspectives

Decoloniality is an epistemological movement that promotes the liberation, thinking, knowing and doing of colonised communities and families who were affected by the global coloniality systems like apartheid²³. The epistemological movement facilitates critical border thinking by focusing on the religious, political, economic, linguistic, epistemic, and cultural influences^15,23. In decolonising human occupation, there is a need of a decolonial turn approach to dismantle the coloniality of knowledge, being and power in the era of post- apartheid^18,15,41. Coloniality of knowledge asserted that the young people are the victims of the South African Apartheid and colonial structures of knowledge, as objects of deceit, oppression and exploitation¹⁶. Therefore, a decolonial turn approach is needed to consider the multiple contributions of young people's voices from racialised and colonised families to the production of their knowledge and critical thinking, which is resonant with pluriversality that raises awareness of repressive forces of coloniality^20,41. Hence, the process of co-construction is important in the occupation-based community development (ObCD), as the production of knowledge emanates from the multiple of realities in a context⁴². This addresses coloniality of knowledge by viewing young people as part of assets-based community development (ABCD) whereby relationships are built with the intentions to recognise individuals with gifts and skills²¹.

Contrary to this, the coloniality of being has been masked by the traumatic effects that emanated from the Manichean misanthropic scepticism, which were constructed to question personhood and dignity of colonised families and young people²⁰. Coloniality of being as a condition influenced young people born from colonial and racial families who are marked as dispensable^20,41. This further supports Fanon's explanation of le damné de la terre (The Wretched of the Earth) that the colonised families and young people in underdeveloped countries are still struggling because of scarcity of resources, unemployment, death rate, inferiority complex and hopelessness about their future²⁰. Hence, the coloniality of being has been associated with the zone of non-being because of the persistence of invisibility and dehumanisation, intergenerational poverty, exploitation, displacement, dispossession, brutalities and violence which violated the meaning of humanity alterity^20,41. Brutalities related to the coloniality of being influenced young people's aspirations to realise that they have potential to flourish and shape their future⁴¹. This appears as a problematic situation that guides people's collective and socially transformative actions to remake their lives and worlds, which resonates with the theory of occupational reconstruction^43,44. Thus, the epistemic perspective of decoloniality⁴⁵ assists in rescuing subjectivity, creating strategies to interrupt the cycle of social inequalities and violence, resilience, and protagonist influencing young people's lives.

 

METHODS

Study design and ethical considerations

A socio-narratology qualitative inquiry as a non-invasive method was used to explore young people's voices of occupational legacy in the post-apartheid South African context. The socio-narratology was employed because it provides different subjectivities that underpin understanding of and experiencing the world through companionships of stories⁴⁶. The socio-narratology invigorates symbiotic dependency whereby the young people share stories about their living in the past, present and future⁴⁷. The collaborative nature of the narrative inquiry engendered an opportunity for the young people's stories to reconstruct and construct meaning about life while engaging with each other's help in building their lives and communities⁴⁷. This animated the young people and collectivities through a dialogical interaction between the researchers and participants⁴⁶.

 

Table I

 

Ethical approval was obtained from the Biomedical Science Research Ethics Committee of the University of the Western Cape (Ethics Reference Number: BM18/5/17).

Sampling

Purposive sampling with maximum variation^48,49 was employed to recruit eight participants (n=8) from four different districts in the Western Cape; representing diverse races (i.e., Black, Whites, and People of Colour), cultures and socio-economic statuses. The participants between the ages of 13 and 19 years old from both genders (i.e., female and male) were recruited. Participants were informed that participation in the study is voluntary then they and consented to be audio recorded and they were free to withdraw at any time. Anonymity was enhanced through pseudonyms to protect the confidentiality and privacy of the participants during reporting and publishing, as mandated in section 19 of the POPI Act 2013⁵⁰.

Data collection and analysis

Semi-structured open-ended interviews were conducted with participants (n=8) who were afforded with a space within their time to share their stories and experiences related to socio-historical events, which lasted 25-40 minutes⁵¹. The semi-structured interviews were chosen so that the dialogical reflections about existence within the microsystem while focusing on participants' family life, traditional beliefs, values, dreams, hopes, interactions with others and their aspirations to participation in a range of occupations during the post-apartheid period. Data redundancy was reached during data collection and analysis when the authors noted that the new data repeated what was shared in the previous data. All semi-structured interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Applying a dialogical narrative analysis⁴⁶ with thematic analysis^51,52,53 resulted in identification of the stories related to existing concepts, theories and conceptual structures of dimensions of human occupation. The transcripts were read several times which assisted in the familiarisation with the stories of the young people. This led to stage coding where stories were coded individually by the authors to gain understanding of the reflections. The codes were grouped into categories and consensus was reached after the discussion of the codes. The co-authors searched for the themes and had a collective discussion, which resulted in an agreement that supported the interpretations as well as defining and naming the themes. The themes were named and linked based on in-vivo quotes from the participants. Subsequently, the co-authors asked dialogical questions related to resource questions, affiliation questions and identify questions. This assisted in pulling the analysis together by using the dimensions of occupation comprising doing, being, becoming and belonging to contribute to human occupation^36,54.

 

FINDINGS

A total of eight participants engaged in the present study. The participants were between 16 and 18 years of age with mean and standard deviation of 17±0,755. There were four female- and four-male participants who consented to be part of the interviews. In relation to race, more than half of the participants (n=4, 50%) were coloured. The participants expressed themselves in their home language and they were all at different high school grades. Five of the participants shared that they live within a low-middle class. Participants' family structure involved grandparents, and parents; however, there were participants that stayed with mother or father because of the family disruptions such divorce, or an absent father.

* Pseudonyms

Five overarching themes were identified: i) decoloniality of 'knowledge generation and transfer' of occupational legacy, ii) decoloniality of 'doing' in collective occupation, iii) decoloniality of 'being' in collective occupation, iv) decoloniality of 'becoming' in collective occupation, and v) decoloniality of 'belonging' in collective occupation.

Decoloniality of 'knowledge generation and transfer' of occupational legacy

This theme is made of three stories that focus on the participants' understanding of occupation, legacy and occupational legacy. Participants' knowledge about the things that they do that form part of their occupations. This was explicit from the participants' voices, they perceived occupation as a job or career that sustains living through providing income for the family.

"Occupation, to my own understanding I would say occupation is something that you do for a living... My occupation recently has been schooling and teen parenting" (Aviwe)

"I would think it would be a career or a job that your family or that a certain person does to earn an income, work, that sort of thing." (Michael)

Languages played an important role in the participants' understanding of occupation. Both Shaun and Cecelia highlighted that occupation is perceived as "aktiwiteit reeks" in Afrikaans. As a result, the participants tried to deconstruct the word into "aktiwiteit" (activity) and "reeks" (range) to have a better understanding of occupation.

"It is almost like a range of activities in terms of different sorts of activities... two or three times a week I will be at church, I will do youth, spiritual dancing and then I will be very involved with chess at school." (Shaun)

"It is where you do a lot of activities, but in a specific range or something. at the moment what I do is, I am mostly in music, the music industry. Like I blow my instrument" (Cecelia)

It was clear in the participants' voices that occupation had an influence on their health. Shaun and Cecilia shared that occupational engagement in meaningful activities enhanced their mental wellbeing because they were able to cope with stressful moments and problems. Additionally, the participants had a sense of contentment because their occupations contributed to their spiritual health and they were able to connect with self and God.

"For me, it is a type of stress reliever, so I do it for that... not for fun, but to get away from my problems." (Shaun)

"It makes me feel very good because I don't do it for people. I do it for myself, to make myself feel good and to give praise to the Lord through the instrument I play." (Cecilia)

With the story of understanding legacy, few of the participants shared their insight into the concept of legacy.

Aviwe shared that legacy "it can be something that you give a piece of yourself". This is reverberated in Lauren's example of legacy "I would say legacy is what you leave behind... if you have a career in something that you started and you love. Basically, you passed that on to your family... like family business sort of thing. The family members as they get old enough they work into the family business and it carries on like that but I guess it could be something else but to me that's what it would mean."

Shaun said it is "the footsteps in which you need to follow... I thought that my grandpa liked fishing, my father liked fishing, so why can't I like it, because after my father no one like fishing"

"Legacy that would be something that's passed down from one generation to another generation ... that's influenced you either as a person or as a group ..." (Michael)

"Legacy? I would say it is something like inheritance. Maybe your parents or someone in the family passes away and they leave you money or some property for you to... Or maybe a business for you to carry on for the other generations." (Aviwe)

It was noted that economical inequalities perpetuated intergenerational poverty because some of the participants were living below the poverty line. For instance, Nehemiah's story highlights that poverty was passed on within the family.

"Basically, from where our family started, how my parents got together before they were married. Even then they struggled, and us as well, getting me my brothers and sisters because they struggled" (Nehemiah)

Decoloniality of 'doing' in collective occupations

This theme accentuates the participants' endeavours to engage in a variety of collective occupations which are transmitted by their families, as part of occupational legacy. Participants shared that the strategy of occupational legacy exists in different families to guide social transformation and reproduction. Michael shared that occupational legacy is "passing it down to future generations and leaving a legacy". The participants acknowledged that there are positive and dark sides of occupational legacy guided their occupational choices and decision-making. Drawing from the voices of decision-makers (Thando and Cecilia), they highlighted that they were not willing to engage in unhealthy occupations such drinking alcohol and unacceptable behaviours such poor anger management that they felt form part of the dark side of occupational legacy.

"She (Mother) used to drink a lot. So, my thought is that I shouldn't even go near alcohol nor should I abuse alcohol because it is going to make me lose my path. Most of the youth here smoke and do funny things ... I am not judging them but that is my opinion and as a result I decide not to engage myself and separate myself from such." (Thando)

"I will also live like them, but then there is also something about my grandfather that I don't want to follow...not to be like him, but definitely like my grandmother...my grandfather is someone that gets angry easily and I don't want to be like that ..." (Cecilia)

In Octavia's and Nehemiah's stories, the dark side of occupational legacy included dehumanising and interpersonal violence related to gender-based violence, which affected their family relationship and cohesion. Octavia said, "They did drugs and my father always abused my mother and they always argued and now they are separated".

"Basically, arguments and stuff that my parents had gone through. Some type of abuse, verbal and physical, not just between my parents, but between all of us, and which created conflict and stuff, so that's basically what happened". (Nehemiah)

An occupation of sharing one's life story with others was identified in the stories of Thando and Nehemiah, which show the generative and continuity aspect of their families. The stories were used to share traditional beliefs, knowledge, values, wisdom, humour, encouragement and histories of families of the young people which also guide them to occupational choices. The sharing of stories resonates with the concept of altericity, which supports the sense of generosity of colonised families to give and receive freely in societies^20,59. According to Nehemiah, "So the stories that they've been telling is to teach you respect". On the other hand, the stories promoted decolonial love and understanding through engagement in collective occupations such as family dinner, which enabled the positive part of occupational legacy that enhanced family cohesion, resilience and sense of hope.

"On Sundays we have a family dinner...We sit together as a family and we just chat. Stories from my parents were around me not giving up and knowing that I'm not perfect and neither are they. In everything that I do, I must work hard and try my utmost best. I must learn from my own mistakes and their mistakes...Lastly, I shouldn't allow my family circumstance pull me down... my grandmother used to share with us tales because we didn't have story books, these tales were about life, wisdom, respecting elders, being a good child and the value of family". (Thando)

"That it (legacy) is not just physical things, but it is also the lessons that you learn along the way ... the lessons could be your legacy, what you have learned and what you have gained and what you have drawn from the examples around you... Like maybe being a role model to them, like how the struggle I came through and I still made it at the end of the day, see, so basically that legacy of persevering through". (Nehemiah)

Octavia's story revealed that through doing and sharing the wellbeing of others is enhanced to bring a sense of fulfilment and contentment. Therefore, occupational legacy has been passed on through knowing and doing occupations such as playing, cooking, cleaning and gardening: "I would say my grandma, because she has been there most of my life and teaching me how to do specific things. My mother...she liked playing netball. I am good at netball ... how to make a specific dessert or food or how the house should be cleaned bottom to top and keeping a neat garden". (Octavia)

Despite the fact that some stories highlighted positive occupational legacies, the stories of Aviwe and Lauren however, evidently show the zone of non-being. They were occupationally restricted because their occupational choices were influenced by the social environment and adult-child power relational forces. This perpetuated the poor communication between the participants and their parents, which resulted in a sense of silence.

"I had that grudge so I didn't really click with lots of people. I didn't even socialise, I was just that girl who sat at the corner and put earphones, that's it...I've become matured from that and also how to take care of things and how to solve problems whenever there is one ...growing up with my grandmother who was very much strict, whenever you wanted someone to talk to, you couldn't open up to her. I didn't really let people in. I used to bottle up a lot and sometimes I still do." (Aviwe)

In Lauren's story, the coloniality of religion perpetuated the experiences of living in a zone of non-being because the parents restricted Lauren's occupational choices of socialising with friends.

"It was definitely not being able to live like a normal life... but in the sense of not being able to experience what other people were experiencing or other kids my age because of the religion that my parents were in and how they raised me according to that religion...Grade 7, I would always be invited out and my parents would be like oh no we have to go to church tonight or like you can't because of that ..." (Lauren)

Decoloniality of 'being' in collective occupations

This theme deals with the participants' occupational legacies that were imparted from their families to strengthen their personal identity and inner being that provided meaning, direction and coherence in their life. The efforts of decoloniality of 'being' that appeared to incorporate the things that the participants do as part of collective occupation to rejuvenate their existence, wellbeing and health. Five of the participants (Michael, Aviwe, Thando, Shaun and Cecilia) shared who they are in life using different types of voices of how they connect with God and express their spirituality. For instance, Michael used a religious voice, "We are religious in the sense that we do certain things and celebrate like big days and that together." Three of the participants (Aviwe, Thando and Cecilia) in voices of God-fearing and Christian mentioned that they engage in a variety of traditional religious and spiritual occupations such attending church, prayer and reading a bible, which were incorporated in their daily routines.

"I'm God-fearing...every day before we go to sleep we pray" (Aviwe)

"We are Christians, we don't do cultural things. When we're about to sleep we pray and in the morning as well, when we are about to go to school we pray again.... My mother was Christian but she did not attend church by then. Then when I started going to church a lot, my mother and brother decided to come with me to church. So I am the one who influenced my parents to go to church... I think I have to do it with my children because I need to do something that I never got from my parents." (Thando)

"We were taught to read Bible" (Cecilia)

It was noted from the stories of Michael and Shaun that psychological material such as values and traditional celebration formed part of their social identity. For instance, Shaun with a voice of a committed and spiritual person shared that "My grandfather always taught me a lot of values like loyalty, always be honest. And to be attached to an item is how you can actually remember what you have been taught... at least two or three times a week I will be at church, I do spiritual dancing". The engagement in these occupations such as attending church, prayer, reading a bible and spiritual dance provided the participants with a sense of inner peace and renewal in times of stress and demands of their daily activities.

The story of Aviwe regarding sexuality highlighted that some families were deeply entangled within the coloniality of parental power and patriarchal structures that perpetuated coloniality of being, gender oppression and social inequality. However, it should be noted that Aviwe's efforts emancipated a decolonial attitude towards self-discovery, self-love and understanding, which provided possibilities of intersectionality to reinforce the inner voice and agentic role. Aviwe said, "I would say from my father I learnt self-love, because at times when I was young I was a tomboy and my father and I didn't get along because of that... from my father I've learnt to stand up for myself. Like if maybe at school you're being bullied you have to stand up foryourself and listen to the inner voice in you because you can never go wrong with it". Aviwe's self-reflexivity resulted in a sense of inner peace and internal capacities that supported good health and quality of life.

Decoloniality of 'becoming' in collective occupations

This theme deals with the conscious efforts that emanated from the generative parents who guided their children's occupational choices, emancipation and transformation, which indicated that 'becoming' contributes in relational and occupational decision-making. Shaun shared that generative parents have a role to play in personal decision making because "they are also part of the choices that I make, I also consider them when I make decisions. my way of thinking is similar to my mother's, because it is actually values that will actually open doors for me in the future". This echoed by Thando and Michael's voice of self-improvement reflected on the occupational need of coherence that connected present moment with the past and future to enable emancipation from the oppression of poverty resulted in a sense of continuity and gratitude.

"My parents encourage me to focus on education and school. Although they never went to school and they are uneducated, they always encourage me to focus on my academics so that I can be able to give them a better quality of life and move them out of poverty. We live in an informal settlement and I want to make something out of my life so that I can remove them from that environment and find a better one." (Thando)

"It wasn't just my choice, they (parents) helped me towards but I'm very thankful they did because if not I could still be wondering where I would go or do...I would obviously spend a lot of time with my children and family because I feel like that's the most important thing, your family is the closest people and you should always be spending time with them, getting good bonds between them" (Michael)

From Nehemiah's voice, it was clear that inner dialogue raised a positive creative response with aspirations for transformation of the challenges related to intergenerational poverty. However, Nehemiah's voice revealed a need for agency, problem-solving and goal-setting skills in setting priorities to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty for a better future in a zone of being. It was clear that Nehemiah aspired for a generative lifestyle to improve his health, well-being and quality of life of his family and future children, which reveal the understanding of positive occupational legacy and contribution to others.

"In my case, passing through all these obstacles and going through each and every one of them to reach my occupation will be my legacy and I'll probably tell my children. I went through this and that, like my father told me, they can basically use that as a motivation for themselves. I actually want to provide for my family one day and even though my parents didn't always have for me. To go places or stuff like that or even being in a better school, I would help them anyway, and financially... having no traditions and stuff, urges me to do it with my family one day, so I would want to have traditions with them, when I have my own family." (Nehemiah)

Decoloniality of 'belonging' in collective occupation.

The last theme deals with the ubiquitous efforts, capacities and moral duties that enabled participants' creative participation in collective occupations that promoted belonging, connecting and contributing to others. This theme is resonant with Nehemiah's and Michael's view of generative efforts within families that cultivated a sense of belonging through "inclusivitywithin the family and creating bonds and also the importance of family." Hence, Michael concurred that families' inclusivity involves capacities of accommodating each other as part of their "Legacy that would passed down from a generation to another generation ... that's influenced you either as a person or as a group... We all have an equal view and that obviously sometimes you have to sacrifice because you can't always want...so at the end of the day you have to sacrifice for one another and see what outcome will benefit everyone the best."

This theme provides evidence of asset-based community development and a sense of pleasure and joy among the participants who engaged in collective occupations that contributed to others in the community as part of volunteer efforts passed on by their generative parents. Irene shared, "As a family we contribute to charity and I think that is a very nice thing because I can also say that growing up without a mother, you are an orphan because a mother plays a big role in your life. My father is giving to charity and sponsoring organizations". The involvement of the father figure in passing on a positive occupational legacy to young girls appeared as a capacity building strategy to develop their communication, networking and investment skills. Occupational modelling was evident in Aviwe's story "I always tell myself that whatever I do, I do it for my father.I can communicate with people and socialise, learning that from my father because he's a priest and investor too. So, he does a lot of that and he even takes me to some of his meetings to learn some business stuff"

There were three stories that emerged from the young people's voices, which engrained in the importance of imparting morality to other-regarding duties as part of psychological material that promotes "decolonial love and its ethics of all humans living together harmoniously"^43:384. The critical reflections highlighted that a morality of duties forms part of a positive occupational legacy that is firmly entrenched in personhood and collective occupations of connecting to others. Octavia said that there is a need "to always respect people and if people needs your help you shouldn't say no, because one day you might need them too." This is echoed by Michael who said, "...things such as like integrity, respect, always learn to respect your elders, do the right thing when no one's looking as it's easy to do the correct things when people are watching and that but the real value comes when none's looking."Subsequently, Shaun said that "legacy is the moral values which were given to you and how you use it in your daily activities and how you will influence someone's lives positively..."

Despite the fact that the participants were living in under-resourced townships with structural constraints related to social and economic inequalities; however, they managed to engage in occupations that enhanced their internal capacities such as resilience, internal motivation, and presentation as well as people skills. Drawing from the voice of a diplomat, it was evident that Nehemiah's creative response to the obstacles showed that he was tactful and skilful in managing social relations, handling people in the community, which resulted in a sense of community. "I have learned to pass down as a youth ambassador. I went to camps, I spoke to the youth and we created awareness for youth to be uplifted in the community not to choose wrong or not to follow the influence of the world... but to choose for themselves and to know what's right for them. I draw my influences from the strongest friends that we gather with almost every weekend, and we speak about different stuff that we value most and the progress between us and that's kind of an upliftment on myself". (Nehemiah)

One of the eight participants shared that some of the things related to the occupations that they used to engage in tend to evoke pleasant memories of their grandparents. This is evident in the voice of a reminiscer known as Cecilia who shared that "the way how I do things, it is like my grandmother or my grandfather did it too, so it reminds me of them"

 

DISCUSSION

The findings emerging from this study demonstrated that occupational legacy is a strategy of human occupation that resonates with the meliorism and knowledge mobilisation that enabled young people to engage in hopeful efforts to solve problems that influenced their daily lives⁵⁵. It was evident that the young people had hopes and aspirations to improve their capacities to live healthy, satisfying lives through trajectories of solving problems for themselves and involvement of others⁵⁵. Consistent with the melioristic intent^44,55, our findings indicate that the young people consciously used the lessons learned from the occupation of storytelling that they engaged in with their grandparents and parents. It was further noted that the occupation of storytelling enabled the young people to rethink and reconstruct their future possible selves so that they may liberate themselves from the oppressive social structures and conditions that are existing in their present moments. However, this study also offers an understanding of the significance of the principle of continuity of change that emanated from the transactional perspective of occupation⁵⁶. Specifically, the findings from all the themes indicated that the young people used their time and space to reflect on their challenges that stemmed from the social and economic inequalities. The findings revealed that the young people's human agency was unmasked in their critical reflection because they had melioristic intent to empower and transform their lives. It was evident in the stories of Nehemiah and Thando that occupational reconstructions opened up spaces so that they could use their concerted efforts and new ways of thinking that honed their problem-solving capacities. The findings heighten that the young people's human agency was mobilised to the extent that they were able to use knowledge learned from their obstacles and involvement in youth camps to influence others in their families and community. In supporting the meliorism perspective, our findings indicated that the young people were intrinsically motivated and exercised their freedom to engage in social participation with friends to share their occupational legacies. Ultimately, these findings contribute to the body of occupational science because social participation as an occupation contributed to the efforts and capacities of the young people, as they were able to adapt to the environmental changes and obstacles, and to flourish⁵⁷.

Problematic situations related to health compromising occupations, such as substance use, smoking, and drugs were dark sides that perpetuated interpersonal violence, family conflicts and parents' separation among the families. These findings pointed out the dark side of the occupations that seem to influence the young people's family function, emotional, physical, psychological, social, and spiritual capacities⁵⁸. However, the findings indicated that the young people had high efficacy, which enabled their occupational choices so that they set goals and exert more effort with persistence to achieve future goals. The problematic situations seem to have assisted the young people to understand their everyday life and adjustments that were needed to experiment and solve problems⁵⁶. Our findings add valuable contribution to occupational resilience⁵⁹, which suggests that occupational therapists should consider the capacities, talents, skills and aspirations of the young people living in problematic situations so that they may successfully perform their valued occupations. The findings of the current study show that the young people developed habits and behavioural strategies that supported their engagement in spiritual occupation such as prayer, bible reading, and spiritual dance to deal with the stresses emanating from intergenerational poverty. These findings further show that the young people's capacities to deal with their lives were enhanced, which resonates with occupational resilience⁵⁹. This is further consistent with the efforts of problem-solving that corroborate with the decoloniality of belonging in collective occupation, which supported optimistic thoughts that were not only enhancing but preventing debilitation. The young people learned to implement the strategies of problem-solving that involved identification of the barriers, creation of action plans, and evaluation of the outcomes and change of plans^56,60.

The findings of the current study are consistent with collective occupations that contribute to others and advancement of common good⁶¹. This is evident in the decoloniality of belonging in collective occupation that promoted compassion and solidarity morale. Our findings further contribute to Smith's expression of "We all Bantu. We have each other"^62:476, which highlighted the importance of giving back to the community as a collective occupation providing the young people with opportunities to learn altruistic capacities and form social networks. These findings supported the contributing occupation that enabled young people's sense of meaning and purpose in life³⁶. These findings further suggest that families are repositories of personhood, relational virtues, kindness and generosity that entails morality of duties that prioritises the well-being of all^11,24. This might explain the melioristic intent and agentic efforts that motivated the young people to engage in meaningful occupation, which supports occupational decision-making⁶³. Additionally, the findings highlight that the young people leveraged in the contextually driven cluster of opportunities and choices to address their problematic situations through hope and engagement^45,63. Thus, the findings suggest that occupational legacy is a strategy that might be used to preserve collective occupations in families.

The strategy of occupational legacy contributes to the decolonial turn of collective occupations because the young people's engagement assisted in the reconstruction of their upbringing complexities such as family disruptions, strict parental practices, relational power between parent-child relationship and patriarchal hegemonies. The findings support occupational reconstruction because the young people engaged in social changes to address the hetero-patriarchal gender roles and bullying⁴³. However, these complexities did not create only occupational opportunities and occupational reconstruction but also social transformation in the families. The stories of Aviwe's family conflicts with her father and grandmother provided an example of continuity and change, family cohesion, peace and harmony. Hence, the findings show that the stabilisation behavioural patterns of the family members illuminated healthy social relationship and interaction, which enabled occupational modelling. This is also consistent with the findings that demonstrated that family members influence one another to shape their moral values, which can be used for decoloniality of belonging in human occupation. In the present study, young people were willing to learn, which enhanced the decolonial attitude to love their parents who exposed them to opportunities that were motivated by personal capacities, socio-cultural values and beliefs⁵⁷. Therefore, occupational therapists should consider legacies that add to a growing body of collective and intergenerational occupations that may be guided by the theory of ObCD and occupation-based groups for young people who need to enhance their capacities^64,65,66. Occupational legacy should be integrated with the ABCD and sustainable goals of good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, peace, justice and strong institutions as well as partnership⁶⁷.

Limitations of the study

The scope of this study was limited in terms of time constraints, school schedules and understanding of occupational therapy terminology, as the co-authors were attempting to apply pluriversality which entails inclusivity, fairness and respect of multiple views. With regard to research setting, only young people from the Western Cape Province were recruited which might be a limitation. However, an institutional ethnography study that focuses on young people's everyday lives, how their lives are organised and what people do as knowers and doers in relation to occupational legacy is needed⁶⁸.

 

CONCLUSION

This study provided an insight into the importance of occupational legacy strategy in facilitating a decolonial turn of human occupation that enable people to use their physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual and cognitive capacities to ameliorate their problematic situations emanating from the South African Apartheid and colonial historical events, social and economic inequalities. The findings of the study indicated that greater efforts are needed to ensure that occupational legacy embraces decolonial attitudes of love and understanding with a melioristic intent to contribute to human occupation and altericity. The findings heightened that occupation is important in continuity and change through decoloniality and the dimensions of occupation that intrigued the meaning and purpose of occupational engagement in storytelling, prayer, spiritual dance and social participation. Overall, the study provided evidence that problematic situations did not debilitate the young people; however, they motivated them to be agentic and optimistic then engage in morality of duties that enabled occupational reconstructions and occupational resilience.

Author Contributions

Thuli G. Mthembu made substantial contributions to the conceptualisation of the research, literature control, research methodology, analysis, findings, and structuring, supervised report writing and drafting and revised the manuscript critically. Megan Alexander participated in drafting the work and revising critically. Whelan G. Julius, Kristen Havenga, Irvin T. Mwadira, and Kayla Oliver were undergraduate students at the time of the research, as part of the fulfilment of their degree requirements at UWC. They all participated in the conception of the research, literature control, research methodology, data collection, analysis, findings, structuring, and critical read the manuscript.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests related to financial or personal relationships that might inappropriately influence them in writing this article. If there are any, if not make a statement to that effect.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the participants for sharing the valuable stories about their occupational legacies.

 

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Correspondence:
Thuli Mthembu
tmthembu@uwc.ac.za

Submitted: February 2021
Reviewed (Round 1): April 2022
Reviewed (Round 2): August 2022
Revised: January 2023
Accepted: January 2023
Published: August 2023

 

 

Editor: Blanche Pretorius: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3543-0743
Funding: There is no funding to be declared for this research.