The Studies of Indigenous Therapeutic Landscapes in Taiwan－A Case Study from the Atayal Community in Jianshi, Hsinchu County

Therapeutic landscapes are settings in which variously constructed healthful circumstances are obtained to promote emotional, social, and physiologic health. These environments are natural (gardens, mountain summits) or have been naturalized through interior design of constructed places, and plants figure prominently to emblemize health. The purpose of this study is to explore: (1) the configurations of indigenous therapeutic landscapes, (2) how traditional ecological knowledge and new technologies (re)shape the current indigenous therapeutic landscapes, (3) how the changes of ecosystem caused by the development of the nation state impact indigenous health. The expected contribution of this study is to develop new strategies to promote indigenous health by adopting the concepts of therapeutic landscapes. Three years of fieldwork will be carried out in two Atayal villages (Yufeng and Xiuluan) located at Jianshi Township, Hsinchu County. The first year of study will focus on investigating: (1) how the Atayal classify and name diseases and illnesses, (2) the Atayal’s attitudes to the etiologies of diseases and illnesses, (3) the ways used by the Atayal to prevent, treat, and manage diseases and illness, (4) the configurations of Atayal’s therapeutic landscapes, (5) how the Atayal evaluate the efficacies of various therapeutic landscapes.