ABSTRACT
Critical discourse analysis is a valuable research methodology for advancing understanding of occupation and occupational therapy as contextually situated and inherently political, and can also serve to enhance the social relevance and transformative potential of occupational science and occupational therapy. Grounded in an assumption that discourse—that is, ways of writing and talking about a phenomenon—is a productive social practice, critical discourse analysis provides a means to reveal the power relations through which particular ways of being and doing come to be taken for granted as ideal, and not ideal, within specific socio-historical contexts. Drawing on two examples of Foucauldian-informed critical discourse analysis studies addressing occupational possibilities, this chapter outlines essential considerations in designing critical discourse analysis while emphasizing the diversity of ways this methodological approach can be enacted.
