Critical Connections: Forum on Cultural Studies in Asia and Beyond
16 March 2012, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
CONFERENCE KEYNOTE SCHOLAR AND GUEST SPEAKER
Aj. Siriporn SOMBOONBOORANA (Walailak University)
email: <ssirip@gmail.com>
"Burmese Migrant Workers and Religious Ritual in Thailand"
Since the mid of 1990s, the waves of nearly two million Burmese migrants have been on the move across the border to Thailand. Specially, at Ranong province of Thailand, the Burmese can cross the border easily from Kawthaung, the harbor of Burma’s Victoria Point to the nearby Thai port of Ranong, which has resulted in large number of Burmese migrant worker settlement communities in recent times.
The paper’s primary focus is on the southern regions of both countries and in particular examines the crucial period of 2000-2008 when the biggest influx of migrant population entered Ranong in Thailand from Kawthaung province of Burma. It will analyze the conditions of the migrants who have been living outside the borders of their “homeland” in another country for prolonged periods. The study dwells specifically into the religious rituals of the Burmese migrant workers, with the particular elements of everyday life and social spatial in the border city. It probes into Buddhism and the politics of identity formation when the Burmese erect Thai Buddhist temples as their own so that they can practice their own religious rituals. Whether it will have any effect on Buddhism within the Thai society would be another dimension of the research.
Siriporn Somboonboorana has recently taken up the position of lecturer in cultural studies programme, School of Liberal Arts at Walailak University, Thailand. She did research on marginal cultures and migrant workers in Bangkok and the border city which was supported by many organizations inlcuding Thai Health Promotion Foundation, The National Research Council of Thailand, Department of Cultural Promotion, Princess Maha Chari Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, etc. and has worked on development issues with the national government, local communities and NGOs. She is also very interested in Anthropology of migration and its practice in everyday life. Her interests include gender and development, religion and ideology, nation-state evolution, ethnicity and ethno-nationalism. She is currently a PhD. candidate in the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. |