Challenging Stereotypes in Europe-Thailand Transnational Migration: Non-conventional Unions, Mobilities, and (Re)productive Labor

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14764/10.ASEAS-0076

Keywords:

Europe-Thailand Transnational Migration, Mobilities, Non-conventional Unions, (Re)productive Labor, Stereotypes

Abstract

The migration flows connecting Thailand and Europe have constructed social spaces in which different stereotypes regarding Thais and Europeans emerge, perpetuate, and circulate, thereby affecting to various extents the lives of these individuals. To challenge these stereotypes, the present Special Issue takes into account the mechanisms of social categorization at transnational and local dimensions in three critical steps. First, it adopts an inclusive stance by not limiting itself to heterosexual relationships involving Thais and Europeans. Second, it shifts the scholarly gaze from marriage and family issues to Thai migrants’ mobilities in spatial, social, and intergenerational terms. And third, it highlights Thai migrants’ engagement in the labor market as intimate workers and entrepreneurs to uncover the factors shaping their (re)productive labor and social incorporation in their receiving countries. Using an intersectional approach, this Special Issue presents six empirically grounded case studies to unveil often-neglected dimensions and complexities of Europe-Thailand transnational migration.

Author Biographies

Asuncion Fresnoza-Flot, Université libre de Bruxelles

Asuncion Fresnoza-Flot is tenured research associate (chercheure qualifiée) of the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.–FNRS) and senior lecturer (maîtresse d’enseignement) at the Université libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. Her publications deal with transnational family dynamics, conjugal mixedness, and intergenerational transmission, as well as marriage and divorce involving Filipino and Thai migrants. Her ongoing research focuses on the contextual mobility of Belgian-Asian couples within their cross-border social spaces.

Sirijit Sunanta, Mahidol University

Sirijit Sunanta is Associate Professor in the PhD Program in Multicultural Studies, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University, Thailand. Her research interests include gender and migration, globalization and food cultures, and the politics of diversity in Thailand. Sirijit’s current research projects focus on care transnationalization and gendered labour in Thai health and well-being tourism.

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Published

2022-12-23