Abstract
Given my positionality within occupational science, in which I locate myself as a critical scholar aiming to challenge the boundaries of the discipline and further its social and political engagement, the focus of this keynote talk delivered at the 22nd Japanese Society of Occupation Symposium was on how participation can be mobilized in radical ways to contribute to transformative scholarship addressing occupation. Within this paper, after delineating guiding premises and defining key concepts threaded through the talk, I address the develop- ment of a transformative vision within critical occupational science and demarcate key characteristics of transfor- mative scholarship. I then draw on a transformative lens to consider participation as part of activist-oriented scholarship, outlining key ideals of participation from such a lens and presenting a critical analysis of limitations associated with dominant ways participation has been taken up in interdisciplinary scholarship. I then argue that if occupational science aims to move forward in enacting social transformation, occupational scientists need to more fully embrace a transformative model of participation. I conclude with suggestions for ways forward in re- thinking and enacting transformative participation.
