Adolescence and Ethnicity

ABSTRACT

In this paper the author presents a model of occupational therapy which is built on anthropological cross-cultural studies (that is on knowledge from tribal societies), based on the years of intercultural training with Dr. Ronald Chavers at the DIES Institute in Utrecht, Holland and on 7 years fieldwork as an occupational therapist-cultural anthropologist. The model offers an integration of analyzing, diagnostisizing and recombining adolescence, mental instability, occupation building and ethnicity-nationality problems in guiding and teaching situations. It offers possibilities to tackle motivational problems by taking craftsmanship, esthetics and the symbolic as integrated human drives and, as cultural faculties. Ethnicity is, in his view, an aspect of every culture, including western societies. Thus the model allows adolescents from different ethnicities, from different classes, from different nationalities to be treated on equal basis. This perspective creates a provocative challenge to look at and deal with the historical controversies between nationality and ethnicity, between ‘urbanites and countrysiders’, between ‘white collar and blue collar labour culture’ as these controversies manifest themselves in adolescents. The model is not fixed and is still in the making.