Occupation to Maintain the Family as Ideology and Practice in a Greek Town

Abstract

Discussions of the cultural relativity of occupation and the potential hegemony of Western conceptualisations have included increasing awareness of a dominant focus on the individual and individual agency. Recognition of the importance of understanding occupation in diverse contexts led to an ethnographic study exploring occupation in a Greek town. A transactional perspective underpinned the emergent understanding of occupation as a multidimensional and fluid process occurring within and between individuals, the family and the community, from each moment to across the life-span. This paper presents part of the findings of that study, focusing on the family as ideology and as practice. Values and beliefs around the ideal family, occupation for the maintenance of the household, and the network of family occupation, transacted in an ongoing process that constructed and reconstructed each element. Family was embedded in memories and stories, the embodied experience of growing up in the town and in the ongoing family occupation that predominated throughout the days and weeks. Family was part of who one was, but also an inextricable part of what one did. The study supports expanding conceptualisations of occupation beyond the individual to include the family as an important part of everyday life.