A Proxy of Social Justice? A Co/Autoethnographic Account of Language Testing and Translation Training for Migrant Workers in Thailand

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14764/10.ASEAS-0141

Keywords:

Co/autoethnography, Language Testing, Migrant Worker, Socially Inclusive, Translation Training

Abstract

This article explores the possibilities and limits of advancing social justice through language-related support for migrant workers in Thailand. Using collaborative autoethnography, we reflect on our experiences in two university-led initiatives with Myanmar migrant workers: healthcare translator/interpreter training and Thai language proficiency testing, with ad hoc translation support. We show that language access depends not only on the provision of translation or interpreting, but also on migrants’ everyday constraints and on the institutional and bureaucratic conditions under which support is organized. Our analysis highlights that researchers, positioned as proxies for university commitments to inclusion, must negotiate tensions among ethical responsibility, organizational procedures, and the symbolic value of socially engaged projects. These tensions constrain what language-based interventions can realistically achieve, even when they are intended to promote inclusion and access to knowledge. The article contributes to debates on translation, migration, and social justice in Southeast Asia by demonstrating how institutional mediation shapes the practical reach of advocacy-oriented language support.

Author Biographies

Narongdej Phanthaphoommee, Mahidol University

Narongdej Phanthaphoommee is an Assistant Professor at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University, Thailand. His recent works have been published in Translation Spaces, Target, Multilingua, Babel, Peter Lang new trends in translation studies collection, and Routledge global LGBTQ activism collection. His research interests focus on ideology and translation, translation for the marginalized, and public service translation/interpreting.

Kwanchit Sasiwongsaroj, Mahidol University

Kwanchit Sasiwongsaroj is an Associate Professor at Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University, Thailand. Her research centers on cultural and migration-based diversity and its implications for health and well-being, with a specific focus on multicultural co-existence, retirement migration from the Global North to Southeast Asia and old age care.

Koraya Techawongstien, Mahidol University

Koraya Techawongstien is an Assistant Professor at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. She earned an MA in Theory and Practice of Translation (with Merit) in 2011 from SOAS, University of London, UK, where she went on to complete her Ph.D. in Translation Studies in 2016. Her research delves into the sociology of translation, translation theory, and modern literary translation practices. Her current work adds significant insight into how translation functions within social, cultural, and digital media spheres, especially in Thailand’s context.

References

Areeprachakun, P. (2020). The construction of othering: The study of migrant workers from Myanmar in Samut Sakhon Province, Thailand. PhD dissertation, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison. https://asset.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/K3BP4O43JY26K8K/R/file-94cfb.pdf

Barker, C. (2004). Positionality. The SAGE Dictionary of Cultural Studies. Sage.

Blalock, A. E., & Akehi, M. (2018). Collaborative autoethnography as a pathway for transformative learning. Journal of Transformative Education, 16(2), 89-107.

Beesey, A., Limsakul, S., & McDougall, E. (2016). Hazard exposure and vulnerability of migrants in Thai-land: A desk study for the capacity building programme ‘Reducing the vulnerability of migrants in emergencies’. International Organization for Migration. https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/micic_thailand_desk_study.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Boéri, J. (2008). A narrative account of the Babels vs. Naumann controversy: Competing perspectives on activism in conference interpreting. The Translator, 14(1), 21-50.

Boéri, J. (2023). Steering ethics toward social justice: A model for a meta-ethics of interpreting. Trans-lation and Interpreting Studies, 18(1), 1-26.

Boéri, J., & Giustini, D. (2023). Qualitative research in crisis: A narrative-practice methodology to delve into the discourse and action of the unheard in the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative Research, 24(2), 412-432.

Chang, H., Ngunjiri, F., & Hernandez, K. (2016). Collaborative autoethnography. Routledge.

Chaichanavichakit, A. (2016). Changing dynamic of migrant workers in Thailand: Assessment and im-plications. Asian Review, 29(2), 59-84.

Chacko, E. (2004). Positionality and praxis: Fieldwork experiences in rural India. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 25(1), 51-63.

Coia, L., & Taylor, M. (2009). Co/autoethnography: Exploring our teaching selves collaboratively. In L. Fitzgerald, M. Heston, & D. Tidwell (Eds.), Research Methods for the Self-study of Practice (pp. 3–16). Springer.

Draper, J., & Selway, J. S. (2019). A new dataset on horizontal structural ethnic inequalities in Thailand in order to address Sustainable Development Goal 10. Social Indicators Research, 141, 275-297.

Doerr, N. (2019). Language and democracy in movement. Social Movement Studies, 8(2), 149-165.

Doungphummess, N., Saeheng, J., & Phanthaphoommee. (2023). Crisis as a trigger for the reproduction of otherness: The never-ending discrimination against Myanmar workers in Thai society. Journal of Mekong Societies, 19(3), 1-24.

Ellis, C., & Bochner, A.P. (2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 733-768). Sage.

Fitzgerald, D. (2006). Towards a theoretical ethnography of migration. Qualitative Sociology, 29(1), 1-24.

Francis, D., & Hester, S. (2012). An Invitation to ethnomethodology: Language, society and social inter-action. Sage.

Ghessimi, H. (2019). Translation and political engagement: The role of Ali Shariati’s translations in Is-lamic Marxists movements in Iran in the 1970s. Babel, 65(1), 51-60.

Gibb, R., & Good, A. (2014). Interpretation, translation and intercultural communication in refugee sta-tus determination procedures in the UK and France. Language and Intercultural Communication, 14(3), 385-399.

Harris, J. (2013). Uneven inclusion: Consequences of universal healthcare in Thailand. Citizenship Stud-ies, 17(1), 111-127.

Howard, R. W. (2009). The migration of westerners to Thailand: An unusual flow from developed to developing world. International Migration, 47(2), 193-225.

Inhetveen, K. (2012). Translation challenges: Qualitative interviewing in a multi-lingual field. Qualita-tive Sociology Review, 8(2), 28-45.

Inghilleri, M. (2016). Translation and migration. Routledge.

Jampaklay, A., Khamkhom, N., Korinek, K., Kittisuksathit, S., Ko Ko, M., Sok, S., & Prum, V. (2022). Gen-der and remittances across the Mekong subregion. Journal of Mekong Societies, 18(2), 1–26.

Kyaw, A. W. P. (2021). Social capital and Myanmar urban migrant workers’ job seeking in Thailand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Master’s thesis, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/chulaetd/4932/

Konstantinou, I., & Miller, E. (2022). Collegiality, emotional labour and compassion in the academy: An autoethnographic study of Covid-19. Qualitative Research Journal, 22(4), 593-605.

Krystallidou, D., & Braun, S. (2022). Risk and crisis communication during COVID-19 in linguistically and culturally diverse communities: A scoping review of the available evidence. In P. Blumczyn-ski & S. Wilson (Eds.), The languages of COVID-19: Translational and multilingual perspectives on global healthcare (pp. 128-144). Routledge.

Liong, M. (2015). In the shadow of deception: Ethical dilemma, positionality, and reflexivity in ethno-graphic fieldwork. Qualitative Research Journal, 15(1), 61-73.

Loughran, J., & Northfield, J. (1998). A framework for the development of self-study practice. In M. L. Hamilton, S. Pinnegar, T. Russell, J. Loughran, & V. K. LaBoskey (Eds.), Reconceptualizing teach-ing practice: Self-Study in teacher education (pp. 7–18). Falmer Press.

Lu, S., & Lu, S. (2022). Methodological concerns in online translation community research: A reflexive netnography on translator’s communal habitus. Perspectives, 30(4), 695-710.

Lyons, N., & LaBoskey, V. K. (Eds.). (2002). Narrative inquiry in practice: Advancing the knowledge of teaching. Teachers College Press.

Marais, K. (2013). Exploring a conceptual space for studying translation and development. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 31(3), 403–414.

Melkote, S. R., & Steeves, H. L. (2015). Communication for development: Theory and practice for em-powerment and social justice. Sage.

Monzó-Nebot, E., & Mellinger, C. D. (2022). Language policies for social justice—Translation, interpret-ing, and access. Just: Journal of Language Rights & Minorities, 1(1-2), 15-35.

Norander, S., & Galanes, G. (2014). “Bridging the gap”: Difference, dialogue, and community organizing. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 42(4), 345-365.

Nurick, R., & Hak, S. (2019). Transnational migration and the involuntary return of undocumented mi-grants across the Cambodian–Thai border. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 45(16), 3123-3140.

Pithouse-Morgan, K., Pillay, D., & Naicker, I. (2021). Being and becoming human in higher education: A co-autoethnographic inquiry. In E. Lyle (Ed.), Re/humanizing education (pp. 31-42). Brill.

Phanthaphoommee, N. (2022). Public service interpreting/translation for migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand: Multilingual promotional efforts in a perceived monolingual space. In K. Sasiwongsaroj, K. Husa, & H. Wohlschlägl (Eds.), Migration, ageing, aged care and the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia: Case studies from Thailand and Japan (pp. 271-31). Department of Geography and Regional Research, University of Vienna.

Phanthaphoommee, N., & Doungphummes, N. (2025). Leniency toward the disadvantaged: Representa-tions of Myanmar workers and the Thai government in the public communicative discourse. Communication and the Public. https://doi.org/10.1177/20570473251327231

Phanthaphoommee, N., Pidchamook, W., Castilho, S., & Moorkens, J. (2026). Empowering migrant communities through machine translation literacy: A pathway to socio-economic inclusion. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 13(2), 6-28.

Phanthaphoommee, N., & Thumvichit, A. (2024). Unraveling the multifaceted nature of job satisfaction among migrant healthcare interpreters/translators: A Q methodology study. Translation Spaces, 13(1), 78-101.

Reynolds, J. (2020). Investigating the language-culture nexus in refugee legal advice meetings. Multilin-gua, 39(4), 395-429.

Rostami, A., Trupp, A., & Stephenson, M. L. (2024). Female solo travel experiences: An autoethnography on social and emotional challenges with tourism industry stakeholders. Advances in Southeast Asian Studies, 17(2), 201-212.

Rothman, B.K. (2007). Writing ourselves in sociology. Methodological Innovations, 2(1), 11-16.

Roy, R., & Uekusa, S. (2020). Collaborative autoethnography: “Self-reflection” as a timely alternative research approach during the global pandemic. Qualitative Research Journal, 20(4), 383-392.

Skaaden, H. (2019). Invisible or invincible? Professional integrity, ethics, and voice in public service interpreting. Perspectives, 27(5), 704-717.

Samut Sakhon Provincial Office. (2024). Labor information of Samut Sakhon Province. https://samutsakhon.mol.go.th/ศูนย์ข้อมูลสารสนเทศ/ข้อมูลด้านแรงงานของจังหวัดสมุทรสาคร

Spolsky, B. (2009). Language management. Cambridge University Press.

Srichampa, S., Burarungrot, M., & Samoh, U. (2018). Language planning through policy in Thailand, Ma-laysia and Singapore for unskilled migrant workers. Journal of Language and Linguistics, 36(2), 89–121.

Srivastava, P. (2006). Reconciling multiple researcher positionalities and languages in international research. Research in Comparative and International Education, 1(3), 210-222.

Stange, G., & Sasiwongsaroj, K. (2020). Transcultural lives of Myanmar migrant youths in Thailand: Language acquisition, self-perceived integration, and sense of belonging. International Quarterly for Asian Studies, 51(3-4), 185-200.

Sunanta, S. (2020). Globalising the Thai ‘high-touch’ industry: Exports of care and body work and gen-dered mobilities to and from Thailand. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46(8), 1543-1561.

Suppatkul, P. (2020). Intraethnic othering among Thai wives of White American men: An intersectional approach. Journal of Mekong Societies, 16(3), 24-43.

Taibi, M. (2014). Community interpreting and translation in the Arab World: Status quo and strategies for change. Babel, 60(1), 52-69.

Techawongstien, K., & Chittiphalangsri, P. (2023). One Thai: The politics of singularity in the Thai land-scape of translation. In P. Chittiphalangsri & V.L. Rafael (Eds.), Of peninsulas and archipelagos: The landscape of translation in Southeast Asia. Routledge.

Techawongstien, K., & Phanthaphoommee, N. (2022). Unintentional containment of the contaminated: The role of translation and interpreting during the COVID-19 crisis in Thailand. Journal of Inter-nationalization and Localization, 9(2), 181–207.

Tejativaddhana, P., Briggs, D., Singhadej, O., & Hinoguin, R. (2018). Developing primary health care in Thailand: Innovation in the use of socio-economic determinants, sustainable development goals and the district health strategy. Public Administration and Policy, 21(1), 36-49.

Tekwa, K., & Li, M. (2022). Translation, politics, and development: A corpus-based approach to evaluat-ing China’s development aid discourse. Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series: Themes in Transla-tion Studies, 21, 107–131.

Tesseur, W. (2023). Translation as social justice: Translation policies and practices in non-governmental organisations. Routledge.

Tesseur, W., O’Brien, S., & Friel, E. (2022). Language inclusion in humanitarian organisations: Mapping NGOs’ language capacity and identifying linguistic challenges and solutions. Linguistica Antver-piensia, New Series: Themes in Translation Studies, 21, 17–37.

Todorova, M. (2019). Interpreting for refugees: Empathy and activism. In F. M. Federici & C. Declercq (Eds.), Intercultural crisis communication (pp. 153-171). Bloomsbury.

Todorova, M., & Marais, K. (2022). A translational approach to inclusive development. Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series: Themes in Translation Studies, 20, 1–16.

Wargo, Jon M. (2020) Between an iPhone and a safe space: Tracing desire in connective (au-to)ethnographic research with LGBTQ youth. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Edu-cation, 33(5), 508-523.

Zapata-Barrero, R., & Yalaz, E. (2020). Qualitative migration research ethics: A roadmap for migration scholars. Qualitative Research Journal, 20(3), 269-279.

Downloads

Published

2026-04-17

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 1 (2026)

Section

Current Research on Southeast Asia

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Narongdej Phanthaphoommee, Kwanchit Sasiwongsaroj, Koraya Techawongstien

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

For all articles published in ASEAS before December 2014 and after July 2022, copyright is retained by the authors. For articles published between January 2015 and June 2022, the Society for South-East Asian Studies (SEAS) is the copyright holder. Articles published in ASEAS before December 2019 are licensed under the following Creative Commons License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.  Articles published after that date are licensed under the following Creative Commons License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International. In both cases, this means that everybody is free to share (to copy, to distribute, and to transmit the work) under the following conditions:

  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

  • NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

  • NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.