Abstract
This essay brings a theoretical thought on the phenomenon of social emancipation and Occupational Therapy, based on the theories developed by Boaventura de Sousa Santos, specifically the Epistemologies of the South, and the Ecology of Knowledge. It relies on the sociology of absences, and on the concept of abyssal thinking, to reflect on the misuse of the experience of the people who benefit from Occupational Therapy, examining three modes of non-existence production: the one resulting of the logic of monoculture of knowledge and rigor of knowledge, the one related to the logic of social classification, and the one based on the productivist logic. It presents the ecologies as a way to overcome the absences, particularly the ecology of knowledge, the ecology of recognition, and the ecology of productivity, discussing the possibilities inside Occupational Therapy. It points out the sociology of emergencies and translation work as possible ways for social emancipation, and the implications of cosmopolitan rationality for Occupational Therapy.
Keywords:
Occupational Therapy; Knowledge; Social Marginalization; Social Vulnerability