Blog #2
When we were first told to pick an occupation that we would be exploring and developing in this semester, I had a few options that came to mind. There were more than one I found compelling and thought I would enjoy doing every week. In the end I landed on pottery for a multitude of reasons. First I want to dive deeper into my self identity which is constructed through my own perception of myself along with how society has influenced me. I know from my past experience in pottery that I enjoy working with my hands and creating art from a blank beginning. The societal aspect of my self identity in this occupation is a bit more complex. My grandmother is an artist and has made a career out of her love fore creating. She makes beautiful jewelry, sculptures, paintings, and more. One form of art she has truly loved her whole life is ceramics, she even taught it in high schools for some time, and when I first did ceramics years ago she was delighted to share her passion. This created a positive social relationship surrounding my new occupation and when picking between ideas floating around in my head such as knitting, cooking, a new sport, or ceramics I think the influence of my grandmother played a large role in my choice. My occupational identity was influenced by both my love for the craft but also the positive outlook and support I had from those around me. In class we discussed how being able to adapt occupations is important during times of transition so that we can continue to engage in meaningful occupations. One example was the aging process and how new hobbies or occupations are often needed so that purpose and joy can still be present as we may not be able to do our previous occupations. I can see how looking into the future pottery might be an occupation that I will be able to engage in for far longer than some of my other personal occupations, such as running, and this brings a great sense of self identity in that I have a meaningful occupation for the rest of my life.
An occupational biography is the idea of how the different activities a person engages in throughout their life helps shape their self identity through continuous changes. This idea was studied further in a research article that examined how people's meaningful occupations influenced them during times of transitions. After reading this article it was clear that meaningful occupations had an overall positive impact and created feelings of joy and independence (Raanass, Lund, Sveen, & Asbjornslett 2019). I feel as though my personal occupational biography has encompassed both physical occupations as well as mental. In my childhood I played sports as well as instruments. I was active outside but also loved to read and looking at my overall biography of past occupations I think my identity was influenced in a variety of manners. Throughout different times in my life I think certain occupations have been more influential and held a stronger meaning to me. For example, in middle school I focused mainly on playing my instrument and reading compared to high school where my main occupation shifted to sports. Looking deeper into how this past biography played a role in choosing my occupation, I think subconsciously might have seen a gap in my current occupational engagement. I am currently fairly active and participate in occupations that fulfill l my past with sports and I am currently in school which fulfills my past relating to learning. I was not currently practicing any form of art or way of expressing myself. In the past I have had positive experiences and influence from those around me creating a self identity relating to this occupation that I missed. In order to touch all corners of my occupational biography, I felt it was important to practice a hobby that brought a new aspect into my life. Continuing with my rediscovered occupation is a goal of mine because I do hold the opinion that meaningful occupations have a positive impact on self identity.
References
Ruth Kjærsti Raanaas, Anne Lund, Unni Sveen & Mona Asbjørnslett (2019) Re-creating self-identity and meaning through occupations during expected and unexpected transitions in life, Journal of Occupational Science, 26:2, 211-218, DOI: 10.1080/14427591.2019.1592011
Brenda,
ReplyDeleteI loved the background that you provided for why you chose this to be your new occupation. I think there is always more value to an experience if you can share it with the people that you are close to. Also, I appreciated the way that you are looking towards the future with this occupation. It's great to start finding things now that you can engage in for a long time. Expanding on the idea of familial ties, do you think your interaction with this building sense of identity as it relates to pottery could possibly be influenced by how pottery has helped to shape the identity of some of your loved ones? Do you think that it helps build community for you, or does it strengthen some of your pre-established communities?
I am excited to see what you make this semester!
Thank you for your comment Halle,
ReplyDeleteI think my interpretation of building a sense of identity through potter is most certainly influenced by how I saw it shape those I love. I think that if you can observe an occupation having such a positive impact on a person, especially one so close to you, there is definite influence. It is easier to the see the benefits and meaning behind an occupation when you have an apparent example so prevalent in life. For me I think it might do both build a new community and a pre-established community. I talk to my grandmother about my pottery quite frequently but I have invited a few people to come do ceramics with me already and hopefully in the future I will meet new people as well. Currently I would say it is strengthening my pre-established communities however looking into the future I would predict it will build a new community.