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Making Place with Differing Minds: Ethnography of a Swedish Fountain House

Solheim, Samantha Lynn LU (2025) SANM05 20251
Social Anthropology
Abstract
This is an ethnographic study of a Swedish Fountain House and the members and counselors
who curate the culture and community within the specific field of this Fountain House (F.H). To
provide an analysis of individuals who have dealt with or are dealing with mental health and
illness coming together within a rehabilitation organization, a focus on subjectivity and
intersubjectivity is expounded upon to understand the interplay between mental illness, the F.H.
framework, and the people within it.
The main point of this ethnography is to provide an anthropological lens into a world often only
examined through social work, as many studies see the Fountain House as having positive effects
on members’ lives, but without... (More)
This is an ethnographic study of a Swedish Fountain House and the members and counselors
who curate the culture and community within the specific field of this Fountain House (F.H). To
provide an analysis of individuals who have dealt with or are dealing with mental health and
illness coming together within a rehabilitation organization, a focus on subjectivity and
intersubjectivity is expounded upon to understand the interplay between mental illness, the F.H.
framework, and the people within it.
The main point of this ethnography is to provide an anthropological lens into a world often only
examined through social work, as many studies see the Fountain House as having positive effects
on members’ lives, but without examining this using anthropological theory. I show how this
Swedish F.H. structures a place-specific sociality that brings various degrees of people seeking
therapy or rehabilitation together within an intersubjective experience that gathers shared
understanding and identity through structure and shared work. I also shed light on how
challenges arise within the social geography of the F.H., and how members negotiate with their
own internalized stigma as a cognitive dissonance with the other members sharing their
community and collective experience. This exposes the social struggle of those stigmatized, in
and outside of the F.H., and how the stigmatized come together in these social binds. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Solheim, Samantha Lynn LU
supervisor
organization
course
SANM05 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Fountain House, Stigma, Social Isolation, Mental Illness, Place, Sociality, Subjectivities, Social Anthropology
language
English
id
9193617
date added to LUP
2025-06-05 13:36:03
date last changed
2025-06-05 13:36:03
@misc{9193617,
  abstract     = {{This is an ethnographic study of a Swedish Fountain House and the members and counselors 
who curate the culture and community within the specific field of this Fountain House (F.H). To 
provide an analysis of individuals who have dealt with or are dealing with mental health and 
illness coming together within a rehabilitation organization, a focus on subjectivity and 
intersubjectivity is expounded upon to understand the interplay between mental illness, the F.H. 
framework, and the people within it. 
The main point of this ethnography is to provide an anthropological lens into a world often only 
examined through social work, as many studies see the Fountain House as having positive effects 
on members’ lives, but without examining this using anthropological theory. I show how this 
Swedish F.H. structures a place-specific sociality that brings various degrees of people seeking 
therapy or rehabilitation together within an intersubjective experience that gathers shared 
understanding and identity through structure and shared work. I also shed light on how 
challenges arise within the social geography of the F.H., and how members negotiate with their 
own internalized stigma as a cognitive dissonance with the other members sharing their 
community and collective experience. This exposes the social struggle of those stigmatized, in 
and outside of the F.H., and how the stigmatized come together in these social binds.}},
  author       = {{Solheim, Samantha Lynn}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Making Place with Differing Minds: Ethnography of a Swedish Fountain House}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}