Paper short abstract:

This paper introduces “passages” to explore how spaces can permit otherwise restricted behaviours among marginalised individuals with severe mental illness and substance use in residential psychiatry in Denmark.

Paper long abstract:

This paper investigates “passages” to examine how certain spaces allow ways of life that are otherwise restricted. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in a Danish residential facility, I explore how actions typically considered out of order – like playing instruments at the doctor’s office - or criminal—like using illicit substances—in certain spaces are allowed to “pass” through the tacit tolerance of staff and police officers. I draw on feminist scholar Sara Ahmed (2007), who explains how spaces are oriented toward certain bodies, as seen when some bodies pass unnoticed while others are held back. We propose “passages” as fluctuating spaces where individuals and actions that usually do not pass unnoticed are suddenly allowed to pass.

Thus, this framework helps understand how healthcare spaces are oriented toward specific bodies, making it difficult for marginalized individuals to pass or be fully recognized. This includes cross-sectional issues within healthcare, when certain behaviour and marginalized bodies are prevented from passing through institutional healthcare unless conforming to its standards, yet simultaneously allowed to “pass” within residential care. We highlight how healthcare provision unfolds within a space of exception, questioning the boundaries of formal healthcare and the meaning of “passing” within these frameworks.