Burmese Migrant Workers: Tactics of Negotiation among Domestic Workers in
Chang Klan Community, Chiang Mai in Thailand
___________________________________________________________________________
By Duangkamon Doncha-um, MA Candidate, RCSD, Chiang Mai University
Abstract
This study focuses on the lives of the Burmese Muslim female migrant domestic
workers in a host society, Chang Klan Muslim migrant community in Chiang Mai city,
Northern Thailand. This study examines the ways in which these women turn their vulnerable
and marginalized identities as Burmese (race), Muslim (religion), migrant (migration status),
domestic workers (class), and woman (gender) to be a social capital and help them with
tactics of negotiation in a resettlement area. As found by scholars around the globe who
studied on the issues of migrant female domestic workers, the domestic work is full of stigma.
The stigmatization attached to the domestic work roots from the intensification of inequalities
in race, class, gender, age, religion, and migration status. Many migrant domestic workers
usually come from poor family, have little or no educational background, and some of them
do not have legal labour status in Thailand. These circumstances make them more vulnerable
and force them to subordination on hands of their employers, host society and receiving state.
This study proposes two main arguments. First, even if these women are being exploited by
their employers, host society, and receiving state due to their vulnerable and marginalized
identities, still, they are not only victims and passive agents of the inequality structure but in
their daily lives they turn their ethnic identity as Burmese, religious identity as Muslim, and
gender identity as woman to be their social capital. And as the ‘weak’ component of the
inequality structure, they use their class and migration status as tactics of negotiation to
achieve their life’s goal and upward mobility. Second, ethno-religiosity plays a crucial role
in the lives of the female Burmese Muslim migrant domestic workers in many ways. The
setting of Chang Klan Muslim migrant enclave community helps to facilitate the lives of the
Burmese Muslim female migrants and this setting becomes an exceptional space for the
Burmese Muslim migrants, to fulfill their religious, economic, and social aspects.
Figure 1: Administration Map of Chang Klan, Chiang Mai Province
Introduction
Over the past two decades, Thailand has experienced a large scale immigration of
illegal migrants coming from neighboring countries such as Burma, Cambodia and Laos. The
total number of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand today is estimated to be between
1,500,000 and 1,600,000, with over 100,000 women from Burma employed as domestic
workers. Because of the availability of cheap labor from neighboring countries, more and
more families in Thailand are paying for household services where previously they had relied
upon unpaid family labor. Migration has thus been proposed as a solution to the employment
gap that exists; however, the work of domestic and care services in private homes is still
categorized as unskilled, and is not recognized in many countries as an appropriate
immigration category (Awatsaya et al., 2004).
Despite the large number of Burmese female migrants working within the domestic
work sector in Thailand, there have been a very few studies carried out into this issue. In her
research into Burmese domestic workers in Thailand, Sureeporn (2000) argues that the
degree of labour exploitation among domestic workers has increased in recent times and has
become more complex. Due to the private and confined workspace, domestic workers tend to
live and work in poor living conditions, and receive low or sometimes no payment at all.
Similarly, Awatsaya et al. (2004), in a study of Burmese domestic workers in Chiang Mai and
Mae Sot (Tak Province), found that these migrant domestic workers are vulnerable to
exploitation at the hands of their employers.
The issue of labour exploitation among domestic workers is well recognized, and
there are many organizations, international, regional and local which focus on it; for example,
1
2
the International Labour Organization (ILO) and MAP Foundation , but the problems
remain unsolved. However, I argue that although the existing literature on domestic workers,
using a ‘rights-based approach’, tends to assume that migrant workers are victims, in fact,
they are not simply passive victims of their circumstances. This study attempts to examine
how migrant domestic workers, despite being exploited and living in poor conditions, use
every means at their disposal to negotiate for a better life during their everyday lives. I have
chosen the case of a Burmese migrant community in the Chang Klan area of Chiang Mai,
northern Thailand, in order to investigate the negotiation tactics they use. The Chang Klan
community is interesting for the fact that it comprises a large number of female Burmese
Muslim migrants engaged in domestic work. The fact that these women are not only
Burmese, but also female, migrant and Muslim, raises the question as to how all of these
“marginalized” identities help them to survive while living and working in Thailand.
Figure 2: Chang Klan Muslim Community
1
2
http://www.ilo.org/global/lang--en/index.htm
http://www.mapfoundationcm.org/eng/ Chang Klan community is located in the west side of the old wall of Chiang Mai city,
and it is estimated that there are about 2,000 Burmese Muslim migrants working and living in
the area, making up around 70% of the total population. The Burmese Muslim migrants in
3
this community arrived in Chiang Mai via three different routes: via Mae Sai in Chiang Rai
4
5
Province, through Mae Sot in Tak Province and via Mae Sam Laep in Mae Hong Son
Province. Upon arrival in Chiang Mai, most find work in the community as wage laborers,
food sellers, cleaners and beggars. Among the migrants in the Chang Klan area, there are
more than 100 women working as domestic help within the community itself. With little
education at their disposal, these women do not have much choice in terms of the work they
do, but domestic work is of little interest to Thai women from middle and upper classes, due
to their better education levels and work opportunities.
For the Burmese Muslim female migrant domestic workers who bring with them the
multiple statuses; as of being female, Muslim, domestic workers and migrants, they face
many difficulties during their daily lives. Being a Muslim woman generally means that
traveling or working outside the home is not encouraged, while from a social perspective,
travelling from their home village in Burma to work in Thailand means that they have to
cross, not only a physical nation or state border, but also an ideological one in terms of being
a good female Muslim, a good daughter, a good wife and a good mother. However, economic
opportunity allows those women to negotiate their status, thereby meaning they can earn
money by themselves and send remittances back home to support their families. Working and
living in a Muslim community like Chang Klan, on the one hand provides them with some
benefits in the form of shared religious beliefs (for example, Muslim employers prefer to hire
Muslim employees), but on the other hand means they are exploited as a lower class form of
labor.
As female migrants from Burma, these women have to work as low-status laborers as domestic workers. Employers prefer to hire Burmese workers because they seem to work
hard and are cheaper than Thai women. Another factor is that many Thai women are no
longer willing to work as domestic workers, for they have a better level of education and thus
better job opportunities. However, even though the Burmese Muslims work as low paid,
unskilled domestic labor, they are still able to negotiate their positions within the domestic
work hierarchy. There are several kinds of domestic workers in Chang Klan, including those
who live-in, those who live outside, and those who work for Thai companies.
Figure 3: Burmese Muslim Female Migrant Domestic Workers
3
Mae Sai is the northernmost district of Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand. The town of Mae Sai is a
major border crossing between Thailand and the town of Tachileik in Burma (Wikipedia).
4
Mae Sot is a town in western Thailand of Tak Province that shares a border with the town of Myawaddy of
Burma (Wikipedia).
5
Mae Sam Laep is a village and sub district of Sop Moei District, in Mae Hong Son Province, Thailand. Mae
Sam Leap lies near the Burmese border on the Salween River (Wikipedia).
Theoretical and Methodological Approach
At the global level, the issue of migrant domestic workers has been studied in a
variety of settings and from a variety of perspectives. With the current transnational flows of
capital and labor taking place in a globalized economy, migrant domestic workers’ lives often
reflect the intensive, dominant lines of social differentiation and power that exist in many
societies. Many aspects of inequality appear within the migrant domestic work sector based
on class, race, ethnicity, age, gender and migration status (Anderson, 2000). While many
studies have reflected on the exploited and vulnerable lives of migrant domestic workers,
their migrations continue.
Colen and Sanjek (1990) put forward three theoretical approaches in order to
understand the movements of migrant domestic workers. The first, the “modernization”
framework, proposes uniform, country-by-country stages of development and changes in
household work forms. This scenario usually begins with male household workers, who are
replaced in turn by females working in factories and other forms of employment, to be
replaced in the end by household workers from “outside”.
The second theoretical approach is the “world economic system”, in which household
work is viewed historically, locally and contextually within a capitalist world view. As
capitalism grows and recomposes through booms and busts, and develops and underdevelops, so emigration and immigration flows are triggered, cities built and villages
depopulated, all helping to shape the local demand for labor. These labor demands include
not only waged labor in the formal sector, but also waged labor in the informal sector,
including domestic work.
The third approach takes the “participants’ point of view”, examining work and
recruitment conditions, the costs and benefits of becoming or remaining a household worker,
the constraints placed on leaving the role and the social arenas the workers themselves
occupy outside of work. This actor-centered approach explains why these women choose to
work as domestic labor, how long they continue to do this kind of work, what kinds of social
capital they use in order to find work, and how they negotiate.
The three approaches above are applicable to the situations encountered by many
Burmese migrant workers in Thailand. Modernization is one of the major reasons why
Burmese women migrate to seek work in Thailand, as many of them see pictures of Thailand
from their friends, relatives and family members. What they see in the pictures of Thailand is
a more modern society than their own, and this encourages them to migrate, following their
friends, relatives or family members and using their migrant networks. The level of economic
hardship experienced in Burma pushes them to seek work in Thailand, while Thailand seems
to offer them more opportunity to earn money. Many family members in Burma rely upon the
remittances sent by these migrant workers, for without these remittances, children could not
afford to go to schools and parents could not access healthcare services. In addition to
modernization and economic necessity, the actor-oriented approach can be used to explain
why these women decide to migrate. The women use many types of social capital in order to
help them migrate, with existing migrant networks at being one such social capital they can
use to cross the border, find accommodation and work in Thailand.
This study using the three approaches included modernization, economic system and
actor-based approaches to understand what are the factors that lead these women to migrate
from their village homes and settle in host society, Chang Klan.
1) Modernization factor can be seen as both push and pull factors for the Burmese
Muslim female migrants who come to Thailand to find domestic work. On one hand, it can be
seen as a push factor because the lack of modernity at home in their villages moves these
women to leave for the city. On the other hand, modernization can be seen as a pull factor, as
the women see the resettlement area as a more ‘modern’ society. Modernization is one of the
main reasons that encouraged the women to migrate. Moreover, it is also modernization that
persuades these migrant women to stay longer (if not permanently) in a host community.
2) Economic factor is the main reason for most of migrant women who decide to
migrate. Economic reason can be seen as both push and pull factors. Lack of job opportunity
and money at home makes the women migrate to seek work in Thailand. However, economic
factor plays a crucial role in the lives of migrant women not only before they migrated but
during their works in a host society, as well as their future decisions.
3) Actor-based factor is being useful to understand the Burmese Muslim female
migrant’s decision making because most of the women in this study reported that they
decided to migrate by themselves.
Instead of understanding migrant flow from push and pull factors in relation to
economic forces, from modernization point of view, this study suggests that actor-based
approach is the crucial factor leading migrant women to migrate. Along the process of
migration, these women calculate risks and capital they have before they migrate, once they
arrive in the resettlement area, when they have to plan for longer stay, move to the new
resettlement or return home. These women are concerned, not only for their own self but
mostly for their dependents, like husband, children, parents, and relatives. Well-being of their
family members mainly depend on their labor (doing domestic work), this well-being
includes education for their children, medical care for their parents, and money support for
daily life. These factors are important in order to understand why these women choose to
migrate at first, how long they are going to stay at the resettlement area and continue their
work as domestic workers, and what are their future plans.
Research Findings: Merging Conceptual and Empirical Perspectives
This study is linking three main concepts together: Intersectionality, Social Capital
and Tactics of Negotiation.
Intersectionality
Crenshaw (1989) is the first feminist scholar who introduced intersectionality as a
methodology of studying the relationships among multiple dimensions (e.g. race and sex).
The intersectional theory often uses to explain how the intersection of various biological,
social and cultural categories such as gender, race/ethnicity/nationality, class and ability, and
other axes of identity interrelate, coexistent and contributing to systematic social inequality.
Scholars who applied intersectionality in their works (Crenshaw, 1989; Knudsen, 2006)
suggest that the classical conceptualizations of oppression within society, such as sexism,
racism, homophobia and religion-based bigotry, do not act independently of one another;
instead, these forms of oppression, interact on multiple, simultaneous levels, and creating a
system of oppression that reflects the “intersection” of various forms of discrimination.
Crenshaw (1991) who uses intersectionality to study the violence against women of color
reflects that the experiences of women of color are the intersecting patterns of sexism and
racism. My study uses intersectionality to understand the marginalized identities of the
Burmese Muslim female migrant domestic workers in Chang Klan.
Social Capital
This study also links the concepts of intersectionality and ‘social capital’, to explain
how Burmese Muslim female domestic workers use their intersectional identities based on
religion, gender, and race/ethnicity/nationality as social capital. This study reviews the
concept of social capital as developed by the three founders of the concept: Pierre Bourdieu,
James Coleman and Robert Putnam.
The three theorists seem to agree that social capital is a resource. Coleman (1988)
explains that social capital is the resource used by individuals and families in order to achieve
social mobility. Putnam (1995) describes social capital as an endowment for civil society, and
important for economic growth and for establishing democratic institutions. Bourdieu (1986)
sees social capital as a question of how power and inequalities are reproduced in social
networks (Dwyer et al., 2006). However, my study examines social capital in relation to
religion, gender, and race/ethnicity/nationality, and asks how these intersectional identities
can be converted to social capital.
Tactics of Negotiation
The concept of ‘tactics of negotiation’ applied in this study in order to see how the
women negotiate within their everyday lives. The work of Michel de Certeau entitled “The
Practice of Everyday Lives” is worthy of mention, as in it he makes a clear distinction
between strategies and tactics. He sees strategy as the calculus of a force-relationship which
becomes possible when a subject of will and power (a proprietor, enterprise, city or scientific
institution) can be isolated from an environment. A strategy to him assumes that a place can
be circumscribed as proper and serve as the basis for generating relations with a distinct
exterior (such as competitors, targets or objects of research). Political, economic and
scientific rationality is then constructed based upon this strategic model (de Certeau, 1984).
The Burmese domestic workers have a number of intersectional identities, as
Burmese, Muslims, women, migrants and domestic workers, but seem to be marginalized by
the social category they are placed in. However, this study aims to show how these women
have been able to turn their identities in terms of class, gender, ethnicity, religion and
migration status into social capital, and use this to negotiate within their everyday lives.
Those scholars who have studied domestic workers always mention the discrimination
and stereotyping that takes place towards the workers and the work (Colen and Sanjek, 1990;
Browne and Misra, 2003). The reasons why this kind of work and the persons who perform
the work are marginalized is because the work itself is deeply embedded within hierarchies of
class, gender, race, ethnicity and nationality. With regard to ‘gender’, domestic tasks are
associated with one gender (women), and the tasks of taking care of the children, the elderly
and the sick, plus housework, seen as “natural” for women. With regards to ‘class’, neoliberalism has opened opportunities for women in developed or underdeveloped countries to
participate in the labor force, but these opportunities are generally only open to women from
the middle class, since they have received a good education and can work in professional
occupations, and thus free themselves from household chores and caring roles by hiring
women from the lower classes (from inside or outside their country) to do this work for them.
With regards to ‘race’, historically in the U.S., domestic work has been performed by ethnic
minorities and migrants, so status in terms of ethnicity, nationality and citizenship helps
construct the idea of domestic workers as “others”, those who do not deserve good pay, better
working condition, legal protection or any respect. It is the intersection of race/ethnicity,
gender, class, citizenship status and other factors that helps to explain the exploitation that
these domestic workers face.
This study explores the possibility of theorizing social capital in relation to gender,
ethnicity and religion. Here, gender can be seen as social capital in the way that the study
women use their identity as women to fill the gap created by domestic workers, since the
household and care giving tasks are seen as ‘women’s work’. Race/ethnicity/nationality can
also be seen as social capital in the way that the Burmese women are seen by their Thai
employers as docile laborers who are willing to work for low pay. Moreover, the setting of
Chang Klan is also crucial because the research site is a Muslim community and these
women are Muslims, so in this case ethno-religiosity also plays an important role in the lives
of both the employers and employees in this Muslim community and this ethno-religious
element can be considered as social capital as well.
Gender as Social Capital
This study analyzes gender as social capital of the Burmese Muslim female migrant
domestic workers in Chang Klan. The gender norm is attached to domestic work as women’s
work in many settings; in a way, it allows women access to the work more than male
counterparts. In this community, it seems like women can easily find work than men. These
women in this study are, however, not homogenous. They are different from place of origins,
ages, and marriage and migration status. Each women use their gender as social capital in
different ways. Some women benefit from their ages, since young women can work as liveout domestic workers because this kind of work requires intensive laboring. Some women
can benefit from their single status because they can stay in their employer’s house then they
do not have the pay for their own room rent, electricity, water support and meals. Some
women benefit from their marriage status as in the case of a transnational wife who married
to a Burmese Muslim refugee who is currently living and working in U.S.A and now she has
an economic privilege status due to the remittance from her husband monthly.
Women’s network can be counted as social capital as well. These women’s network
can be seen as informal networks. Memberships in their networks can be friends, relatives of
family members. These networks help to reduce cost and risk from their migration routes, and
are also helping the new comers to find jobs, accommodation, money support and
information. These women maintain and sustain their networks in host community by doing
the “pay thaiw” (means travel) activity together. This “pay thaiw” activity, on the one hand,
strengthens their network among the women; and creates a sort of solidarity. On the other
hand, “pay thaiw” also reduces their home sick, and allows them to enjoy their leisure time
after a hard-work as domestic workers.
Ethnicity as Social Capital
This study seeks to understand the ethnicity of a Burmese identity as social capital in
the ways that this identity helps these people to facilitate their lives in Muslim migrant
community in Chang Klan. The status of being “Burmese” in Thailand is not a privileged
status. In contrast, the status of the “Burmese” in Thailand is of a subordinate due to the fact
that the Thai state sees them as “alien”, “illegal migrant”, “people who carry with them
disappeared diseases”, “people who come to steal Thai people’s jobs” and “people who are
against the national security”. However, being “Burmese” migrant in the Burmese Muslim
enclave migrant community, Chang Klan, these migrant somehow benefit themselves from
their marginalized identity as “Burmese”.
Even there are some negative attitudes from locals toward the Burmese Muslim
migrants. Many local people sometimes mention that the Burmese migrants come to steal the
jobs from local people in Chang Klan. However, many households and shops in Chang Klan
still rely heavily on the cheap labour of the Burmese Muslim migrants especially the
domestic workers. These Burmese Muslim female migrant domestic workers are in a great
need of employers in Chang Klan because they are “docile” labour from the Thai employer’s
point of views. These Burmese Muslim female migrant domestic workers are also working
hard and accept low payments.
As this study shows being “Burmese” migrants, these migrants are cheap and docile
labourers. Therefore they can easily find works especially the works that are not interested by
the local Thais like domestic work. These Burmese migrant in this community created their
migrant community by sharing their sense of belonging. The grocery stores in Chang Klan
allow the migrant to buy on credit. ‘Buying on credit’ means the migrants can buy some
household stuffs that they need to use for their meals and daily lives and allow them to pay at
the end of the month or when they get their payments. This is the reason why migrants can
accept low payment while they are working and living in the community.
Religion as Social Capital
Many scholars who study about migrant in host societies always refer to the important
factor of religion toward the migrant’s lives. Parreñas (2001) who study about migrant
Filipina domestic workers in Italy and U.S.A. found in her study that the church centers act as
supporting sites which provide opportunities to join spiritual activities, as well as offer a
variety of support services including legal assistance, free medical care, job placement
referrals, and language classes for the migrants. In case of Buddhism, the Shan migrants in
Chiang Mai use temples as the supporting sites as well. When the Shan newcomers first came
to Chiang Mai, some of them go to some migrant temples where they can find many Shan
people, Shan food, news about job, accommodation and other forms of support (Amporn,
2007). For the Muslims, a mosque is a center of heart for them. The space of the mosque acts
as a place to pray, a place of gathering, and a place of sharing.
Tracing back along the routes from the history of the Muslim caravan traders, it is
6
also found out that the network of the mosques links the Muslims from Yunnan to Chiang
Mai together. The mosques are important for the Muslims not only for the religious purpose
but also social, economic and political aspects (Berlie, 2000). In contemporary, the mosques
link the Burmese Muslims from their place of origins to places of resettlements, Chang Klan.
Once they arrive to Chang Klan some of the Burmese Muslim newcomers came to stay at the
mosque, access information about jobs and accommodation and seek support from other
Burmese Muslims.
Not only men use the space of the mosque to benefit themselves. The poor women are
also benefitted from the mosque. During Ramadan, the month of fasting for the Muslims, at
that time many Muslims would come to pray and eat at the mosque in the evening. The
mosque during this time is full of local Muslims and at the Ramadan the Muslim will donate
money for the poor. The Burmese Muslim female baggers would come across the Burma 6
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country. The capital
of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam (Wikipedia).
Thai borders to present in the mosques in order to get the donation. Many Burmese Muslim
male and female migrants come to work in the mosque during this time to clean, cook and
serve to get paid and free food. The mosque is an important supporting site in many ways, it
links Muslims together; it is also a source for the poor migrants to get work, money,
accommodation, free food and other important information.
Ethno-religiosity plays the important role toward the lives of migrants before, during
and after their migration. Before they migrate, the mosque acts as the link for migrants from
place of origins to place of resettlements. It reduces the cost and risk for the Burmese Muslim
migrants. When they arrive to the place of resettlement, the Burmese Muslims are benefit
from their ethno-religiosity in social, religious and economical ways. As for social
observation, they can meet with other Muslims, and it allows them to create their Burmese
Muslim migrant network and Burmese Muslim enclave migrant community. As for religious
observation, they can go to pray at the mosque, access halal food and send their children to
study in Islamic school. In economical perspective, they can access jobs here in the
community and in the case of the Burmese Muslim female migrant domestic workers they
can benefit from being Muslim because some Muslim employers prefer to hire Burmese
Muslim because they share similar beliefs in Islam.
Class and Tactics of Negotiation
Class difference is rooted in domestic work and the people who do the work.
Domestic work marks the differences of class between the higher statuses of the employers
who can pay someone to do their household work. These paid workers allow the employers to
participate in professional activities, and enjoy their leisure times. Employers are the local
people who are from a different class of workers due to the fact that employers are middleclass people or people who have more education, more money and citizenship. In contrast,
the migrant workers, normally come from poor family and bring with them little or no
educational background, and their status is of an undocumented migrant in Thailand.
Being subordinate in class to their employer, host society and county of resettlement,
these migrant workers, who are the ‘weak’, employ many tactics to negotiate. Even if the
domestic work seems like the low class of work, they do negotiate to improve their lives. But
many Burmese Muslim female domestic workers manage to get upward mobility from lower
class like domestic work to be out class, e.g. being the owner of the grocery store or the junk
shop. Starting from lower class like domestic workers, some women who have stayed in the
community for some period of time can accumulate social, financial, and economical capitals
which allow them upward mobility.
Migration and Tactics of Negotiation
Migration status marks the difference between local Thai Muslim and Burmese
Muslims in a way that the local family sustains the low payment for the migrants, and the
receiving state enjoys cheap labour of these migrants to support the economic growth in
Thailand. There are many ways in which the Burmese Muslim female migrant domestic
workers employ their tactics such as turning their body against state power or by offering
themselves to work for free for the local family in Chang Klan in exchange that the family
accepts them as one of their workers, because of which they can obtain the legal work permit.
Moreover, being migrants in Thailand mean the Burmese Muslim migrants are restricted in
terms of their movements and the right to own property in Thailand. However, some migrants
still manage to obtain some property like motorcycles. Motorcycles reflect the advanced
economic status of an individual migrant; the freedom to movement, and tactics of
negotiation of the migrants. The migrants employ tactics like using their employer’s name or
their Thai friend’s name to buy motorcycles in order to negotiate their migration status in
Thailand.
Conclusion
The reason I became interested in the group of the Burmese Muslim female domestic
workers is the growing realization of how their intersectional identities including those of
race as Burmese, religion as Muslim, class as domestic worker, and migration status as
migrant worker, make them marginalized, subordinated, and vulnerable in host society. When
these identities intersect, it makes all the women even more ‘weak’ in front of their employer,
host community and receiving state. Many scholars have studied about migrant domestic
workers in Thailand using right-based approach to help these women out of their difficult
situations that they face in their daily lives. However, this study argues that the right-based
approach which tries to help these women to access human rights is not enough to understand
the complex situations of their everyday lives and it is not giving enough room for the women
to see themselves as active agents, not passive ones or victims of the intensification of
inequality toward migrant domestic workers.
As this study attempts to show that where there is inequality, there is resistance. The
Burmese Muslim female domestic workers who are the ‘weak’ due to their marginalized
identities use their gender, religion and ethnicity to be their social capitals in order to earn
and make a living. They also employ many tactics to negotiate in host society, Chang Klan in
Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand.
Bibliography
Anderson, Bridget
2000
Doing the dirty work?: the global politics of domestic labour.
London: Zed Books.
Amporn Jirattikorn
2007
Living on Both Sides of the Border: Transnational Migrants, Pop
Music and Nation of the Shan in Thailand. Regional Center of Social
Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Faculty of Social Science,
Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
Awatsaya Panam (et al.)
2004
Migrant Domestic Workers: from Burma to Thailand. First Edition.
Nakhonpathom: Institute for Population and Social Research,
Mahidol University.
Berlie, Jean
2000
“Cross-Border Links between Muslims in Yunnan and Northern Thailand:
Identity and Economic Networks”, in Grant Evans, Christopher Hutton and
Eng Kuah Khun (eds.) Where Chinese meets Southeast Asia: social and
cultural change in the border regions (pp. 222-235). Singapore: Institute
of Southeast Asian Studies.
Browne, Irene and Misra, Joya
2003
“The Intersection of Gender and Race in the Labor Market”.
Annual Review of Sociology 29: 487-513.
Bourdieu, Pierre
1986
“The Forms of Capital”, in J. Richardson (ed.) Handbook of Theory and
Research for the Sociology of Education (pp. 241-258). New York:
Greenwood.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé.
1989
“Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist
Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Politics and Antiracist
Politics”, University of Chicago Legal Forum 1989: 139-167.
1991.
“Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and
Violence against Women of Color”, Stanford Law Review 43, 1241-1279.
Colen, Shellee and Sanjek, Roger
1990
At work in homes: household workers in world perspective.
Washington, DC: American Ethnological Society.
Coleman, S., James
1988
“Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital”, the American Journal
of Sociology Vol. 94: 95-120.
De Certeau, Michel
1984
The Practice of Everyday Life (translated by Steven Rendall). Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Dwyer, Claire (et al.)
2006
“Ethnicity as social capital? Explaining the differtial educational
archivements of young British Pakistani men and women”. Paper presented
at Leverhulme Programme Conference: Ethnicity, Mobility and
Society. 16-17 March, 2006. University of Bristol.
Knudsen, V. Susanne
2006
“Intersectionality—A
Theoretical
Inspiration
in
the
Analysis
of
Minority Cultures and Identities in Textbooks”, in Éric Bruillard (eds.)
Caught in the Web or Lost in the Textbook (pp. 61-76).
Parreñas, S. Rachel
2001
Servants of Globalization: Women, Migration and Domestic Work.
Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
Putnam, D., Robert
1995
“Tuning In, Turning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in
America”. Political Science and Politics 28 (4): 664-683.
Sureeporn Punpuing
2007
“Female migration in Thailand: A study of migrant domestic
workers”, in Perspectives on Gender and Migration (pp. 22-47).
New York: United Nations publication.