We will undertake ethnographic and historical analysis at the three field sites, mobilising three interwoven themes:.
local understandings of wellbeing-providing places and associated practices : What is considered therapeutic and how/why? In what circumstances/for whom are such therapies less (or not) efficacious? Who are targeted by particular therapies, or imagined as user, consumer or patient?
institutional relations: What relationships, formal or informal, exist between therapeutic sites and: hospitals, sanatoria, clinics and spas; governmental organisations and international institutions and charities. How are such associations viewed by users/clients, lay and local people? Do institutional relations involve funding schemes and flows of money and, if so, to whom, and who is excluded? What sets of obligations do these relationships entail?
juridico-legal structures and colloquial access agreements: How has access changed in recent years due to: changes in laws and informal access agreements; changes to property ownership; commercialisation or privatisation of formerly public property? How are these restrictions enforced – who is excluded, why, and under what circumstances? How are such restrictions viewed by multiple stakeholders and ‘third party’ members of the public?