The Social Construction of Spaces of Spas and the Identity of the Masseuse in Sri Lanka
By adopting the socially produced notion of space of Henri Lefebvre and the relational view of space advocated by Doreen Massey as the theoretical lenses, my thesis explores the intersection of the social construction of the organisational space of spa and the identity of the masseuse in the broader society of Sri Lanka. It examines the influence of the particular local socio-cultural values on the relational constitution of the place called the spa and the identity of the masseuse and how these masseuses negotiate their work identity in and through the multiple realms of their everyday life.