Anthropophagy & Social Occupational Therapy

Dr. Ana Malfitano’s career is focused on Social Occupational Therapy, which has been developed in Brazil to repair various inequities and injustices. In Dr. Malfitano’s World Federation of Occupational Therapy 2022 Keynote address, she turns the lens of occupational therapy onto the idea of anthropophagy.  This concept was developed in The Manifesto Anthropophagic, by Oswald de Andrade, which proposes that metacognitive knowledge stems from alterity.  In a world where we coexist with many other cultures—understanding the “other” and consuming this knowledge, builds new understanding.  In this discussion of anthropophagy and its application in social occupational therapy, we question the construction of our therapeutic position and purpose.  Today’s world is fraught with relentless social inequalities and rather than cancel the colonial origins, perhaps recognition of the plurality of our histories & cultures, and questioning our actions will unite us in working towards a social life.Image: Abaporu, 1928 by Tarsila do Amaral