Abstract
We presented in the study, a propositional synthesis about the uses and understandings of the term human activities, which from the 1990s, became privileged in the production of knowledge of Brazilian occupational therapy. There is a description of the epistemological and social construction around the activities, pointing out its dimensions as a tool and/or centralizing and guiding element of the occupational therapy process and, finally, we propose a contemporary critical discussion. Using as reference four historical movements and theoretical-methodological markers of the production of occupational therapy to address the displacement of understandings to a human, cultural, plural, and polysemic concept, above all, focused on the living dynamics of people and collectives. The perspectives of Occupational Therapies in the South and Occupational Therapy as Production of Life are presented to contribute to the propositional debate, supported by the ethical-political-cultural commitment of this field of knowledge and practices, contextualized in the Brazilian reality. By indicating challenges and urgencies of human activities, we have that changes will not stop and, therefore, new understandings and reframes are important. The epistemological and social contributions that mobilize constructions that are culturally consistent with social transformation are valued, facing the hegemonic domains and powers, with openness to inventiveness and professional solidarity.
Keywords:
Occupational Therapy; Human Activities; Knowledge; Critical Theory; Concept Formation