Brazilian occupational apartheid: historical legacy and prospects for occupational therapists

Abstract

Since the colonization of Brazil in 1500, systemic, institutional and relational racism has produced inequalitites for its black and indigenous people.  This legacy perpetuates while supremacy intensifies social inequalities.

This opinion piece aims to raise reflexivity on racism in Brazil and its impact on the occupations of black people within the context of occupational apartheid.

````We start by exploring the social justice and occupational justice concepts to map a methodological path for the theoretically informed discussion.  We continue by discussing the concept of collecive occupations as a possibility for intervention in the face of racial inequalitiies and introduce some occupational therapy practicies to exemplify strategies to tackle the identified challenges.

We conclude by showing that the field of ethnic-racial relations is still only minimally explored in Brazlian occupaional therapy.  We also point out some possibilities for further studies in this area.