You are cordially invited to a special seminar by Dr. Amporn Jirattikorn. The details are as follows.

Title: Forever Transnational: The Question of Home and Return of Shan Migrants in Thailand

Date and Time: Monday, October 26, 16:00-18:00
Place: Tonan-tei (Room No. 201), Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, Kyoto University

Speaker: Dr. Amporn Jirattikorn, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University and Visiting Scholar, CSEAS Kyoto University

Abstract:
According to estimates, today one quarter of the population of four million Shan have been involved in transnational migration. In Chiang Mai, Thailand, Shan migrants make up one-sixth of the total population, or around 200 000 in this city of about 1.2 million. My talk has two objectives. First I address the question whether Shan migrants from Myanmar to Thailand will return home and explore the possibility that Shan migrants could become “forever transnational” for many of them would most likely never return. I discuss the limits of trying to generalize reasons that migrants choose to stay or to return. Focusing on the Shan case, my aim is to re-examine both how we conceive of migrants’ options, desires and needs and how we conceive of what a border is and how it conditions migrant subjectivities.

The second objective is to examine how the movement of Shan migrants which is likely to continue to reshuffle Shan population has had profound impact on the homeland politics. My aim is to consider the
thoughts of Shan elites in Myanmar with reference to the large number of Shan migrants in Thailand. I draw on my ethnographic data collected during the Myanmar census 2014 when Shan migrants rush home to re-claim their “place” in the national census. Along with this, Shan politicians and intellectuals formed the Shan Real Population Collection Committee to conduct its own census in all areas where Shan people live including Thailand. Ultimately, the question return is to gain better understanding on migrants’ identification of home while accessing the impact of the large scale movement of people on the homeland politics contributes to much neglected area in Myanmar studies regarding the relationships migrants may have with their original home.

About the speaker:
Amporn Jirattikorn is a lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University. Amporn’s research interests are in the areas of media flows and mobility of people across national boundaries. Amporn’s recent publication has centered on the construction of migrant identities through media consumption, ethnic media production in Burma, and religious movements across Thailand-Burma borders.

Contact: Yoko Hayami, CSEAS