Document Type

Book

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

This zine is a personal, reflective project exploring Okinawan culture through my lens as a long-term guest -- first as a military child, then as an adult returning "home" to visit the island where my parents still live. While I am not Okinawan, the culture has deeply influenced my values, worldview, and understanding of community, aging, and wellness.

Through this project, I have sought to honor the richness of Okinawan traditions -- not as an authority, but a someone shaped by the grace of being welcomed in. The pages blend scholarly knowledge, lived experience, and cultural observation to explore how Okinawa exemplifies many values central to occupational therapy: community-based living, preventative wellness, cultural occupation, and holistic care.

Creating this zine has allowed me to practice knowledge translation, cultural humility, and creative advocacy -- skills essential for an occupational therapist committed to equitable, client-centered practice. I approached this project with care, creativity, and respect, recognizing the limitations of my perspective and the responsibility that comes with representing another culture's story. My hope is that this zine communicates not only information, but reverence.

This is a love letter to the island that helped raise me -- and to the values I carry with me into my future as an occupational therapist.

Taylor Fernandez, Class of 2027

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