Lourdes: healing in a place of pilgrimage

Gesler, Wilbert M.

doi:10.1016/1353-8292(96)00004-4

Cited by 256 publications

(147 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…It allows us to shed geometric and locational approaches to space and place (see Jones and Moon, 1993) by embracing more meaningful perspectives that view places as symbolic systems of healing. Using this body of theory, researchers have successfully demonstrated the healing benefits associated with the symbolic and material aspects of particular places such as spas, baths, places of pilgrimage, and hospitals (see Bell, 1999;Geores, 1998;Gesler, 1993Gesler, , 1996Gesler, , 1998Palka, 1999).…”

Section: Revisiting Therapeutic Landscapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, much of our understanding of therapeutic landscapes has been limited to the healing properties of physical places that can be mapped, such as, spas, baths, sites of religious pilgrimages, and hospitals (see Bell, 1999;Geores, 1998;Gesler, 1996Gesler, , 1998Palka, 1999;Gesler, 1992). As such, research has overlooked the everyday geographies of therapeutic landscapes.…”

Section: Revisiting Therapeutic Landscapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Therapeutic landscapes and First Nations peoples: an exploration of culture, health and place

Wilson¹

2003

Health & Place

353

290

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This paper contributes to an expanding body of research within Health Geography that focuses on the role of therapeutic landscapes in shaping health. Therapeutic landscapes demonstrate the importance of places for maintaining physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. Meanings of place and the relationship between place and health have culturally specific dimensions, yet these tend to be overlooked especially with respect to First Nations peoples. This paper broadens the analysis of therapeutic landscapes by exploring their culturally specific dimensions in the context of the everyday lives of 'Anishinabek' and thus contributes to a better understanding of First Nations peoples.First Nations peoples contend that the relationship they have with the land shapes the cultural, spiritual, emotional, physical and social lives of individuals and communities. While geographic research has explored First Nations peoples health, few studies have attempted to explore the influence of cultural beliefs and values on health-let alone the intricate link between the land and health. This paper presents the results of 17 in-depth interviews conducted with Anishinabek (Ojibway and Odawa) living in one First Nations community in northern Ontario, Canada.The findings from the interviews demonstrate that culture is an important component of the link between health and place in everyday life. Incorporating First Nations peoples' perspectives of health and place reveals that the current conceptualizations of health and place within the Geography of Health literature are only partial. r

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Section: Revisiting Therapeutic Landscapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Revisiting Therapeutic Landscapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Therapeutic landscapes and First Nations peoples: an exploration of culture, health and place

Wilson¹

2003

Health & Place

353

290

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The most prominent contributor to this research direction is Wilbert Gelser, who developed the notion of`therapeutic landscape' (Gesler, 1992) and subsequently analysed settings which, for environmental, individual and societal reasons, are considered to have restorative qualities (Gesler, 1993(Gesler, , 1996(Gesler, , 1998. His analysis of`landscapes associated with treatment or healing ' (1992, pp.…”

Section: Therapeutic Landscapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Zealand children’s health camps: therapeutic landscapes meet the contract state

Kearns

Collins

2000

Social Science & Medicine

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This paper surveys the history and current status of children's health camps in New Zealand, and places these sites within the theoretical context of therapeutic landscapes. The ®rst health camp was established in 1919, and the seven current camps provide respite, education and health care for approximately 4000 children each year. We analyse the health-place relations inherent in the health camp concept and suggest that the`therapeutic landscape' idea developed by Gesler provides a useful framework to explain the development of camps as sites for enhancing child and family welfare. Speci®cally, we contend that changing understandings of health and children have been closely linked with changing perceptions of what is therapeutic about the camps. Survey data demonstrate that contemporary restructuring of the welfare state has recast the role of health camps and placed them in a precarious position in terms of both ®nancial viability and public acceptability. We conclude that the current status of health camps is ambiguous given the pressures of deinstitutionalisation philosophies and the regulatory environment of formal contracts between funders and providers. 7

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“…This is especially true of therapeutic landscapes whose original health/ healing identities shift, as at Bath or Brighton, to new identities where leisure and tourism assume more significant positions (Gesler 1996, Towner 1996, Foley 2010). In such identify shifts, the central roles of local economics and the commodification of health and place are arguably under-emphasised dimensions in therapeutic landscapes research (Williams 2007, Smith and Puczko 2009, Foley 2010.…”

Section: The Spa Town As Therapeutic Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

“…With theoretical foundations in cultural ecology, structuralism and humanism, the idea offers a conceptual and analytical framework for natural, built, social and symbolic environments as they pertain to healing or well-being in place (Williams 1999). Initial studies focused on European locations famed for their healing powers, including spas and religious-spiritual sites (Gesler 1996). Other foundational landscapes included natural settings for asylums and retreats as well as wilderness settings that emphasised more phenomenological connections to healing in place (Tuan 1974, Williams 1998, Palka 1999.…”

Section: The Spa Town As Therapeutic Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

Selling the colonial spa town: The contested therapeutic landscapes of Lisdoonvarna and Te Aroha

2011

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The spa town is one of the foundational sites in the study of therapeutic landscape. As settings in which health informs the production of place and in which place is shaped by reputational associations with healing, spa towns have distinctive health and historical geographies. Drawing on a comparison between two spa towns, Te Aroha in New Zealand and Lisdoonvarna in Ireland, a number of critical therapeutic landscapes themes are explored. Two themes in particular are studied in empirical depth, the first being the commodification of health and place within common spa town narratives from the mid-nineteenth century to the early-to mid-twentieth century. A second core theme concerns itself with the contested identities of the watering-place, in relation to the relative importance of health over social identities and in framing native inhabitations against wider colonial place productions. In the tangled narratives of both towns' health histories, we argue there is much to be learned about spatial similarities and variations in a process whereby place is commodified and sold on its reputational therapeutic characteristics. This is a process with local socio-cultural variation but with an additional potential for global-local narratives which moves beyond the spa town to wider watering-place forms.

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Lourdes: healing in a place of pilgrimage

Cited by 256 publications

References 8 publications

Therapeutic landscapes and First Nations peoples: an exploration of culture, health and place

Therapeutic landscapes and First Nations peoples: an exploration of culture, health and place

New Zealand children’s health camps: therapeutic landscapes meet the contract state

Selling the colonial spa town: The contested therapeutic landscapes of Lisdoonvarna and Te Aroha

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