Globalizing the Thai 'high-touch' industry: Exports of care and body work and gendered mobilities to and from Thailand (original) (raw)
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This paper analyzes the positioning of Thailand in the global intimate economy and the ways in which the projection of Thailand as a destination for bodily, sensual and spiritual fulfillment has shaped the kinds of mobility to and from the country. Drawing on existing research on Thailand’s booming health and beauty tourism, the retirement industry, and transnational marriages between Thai women and foreign men, this paper conceptualizes Thailand’s place in the global outsourcing of commodified care and bodily services. The Thai state in close collaboration with the private sector has marketed spicy dishes, spas, surgery, sun, sand and spirituality to attract short term travelers as well as would be residents from increasingly diverse destinations. While sex is not on the official Thai tourism campaign, it has, for four decades, entered the popular knowledge of international visitors and constituted one of the Thai attractions. As a provider in the global service economy, the Thai state and its corporate partners have capitalized on feminized Thai cultural traits such as warmness, hospitality, and servility, as well as bodily and emotional labor performed mostly by Thai women, to compete in the market.
From Thailand with Love: Transnational Marriage Migration in the Global Care Economy
WAGADU: Journal of Transnational Women's and Gender Studies - Special Issue: Anti-Trafficking, Human Rights, and Social Justice, 2008
Women from Asia are increasingly traversing borders to marry men in the Western world. This article presents ethnographic research focused on Thai women married to Danish men. The existing discourse portrays these Thai ”mail order brides” through a discourse of victimization. First, they are commonly portrayed as being uprooted and permanently alienated from Thailand. Second, they are seen as merely victims of Third World poverty. A third portrayal sees them as a contraband commodity in illegal human trafficking. As a result, they are seen as victims of simple male domination. This raises two socio-political problems. First, the discourse does not necessarily represent the Thai bride’s self-perception. Second, it fails to recognize how this group of women contributes to the global economy, as remittances from Asian women have become a vital strategy for Asian families, and a vital part of the economies of Asian countries of emigration. This article argues that transnational brides are not merely powerless victims, but global economic actors on a structurally confined stage. While broader global processes are crucial background factors, migration is a concrete action carried out by specific persons in a specific context. Therefore this article analyses the personal motives underlying these Thai women’s migration to Denmark. These motives include embracing socio-cultural family values while paradoxically rejecting more traditional Thai gender values. De Thaïlande avec amour: la migration matrimoniale transnationale De plus en plus de femmes de l’Asie traversent les frontières nationales pour se marier avec des hommes du monde occidental. Cette communication présente une investigation ethnographique sur les femmes thaïlandaises mariées aux hommes danois. Le discours actuel présente ces « épouses par correspondance » comme des victimes. D’abord, elles sont souvent traitées comme des femmes déracinées et aliénées définitivement de Thaïlande. Deuxièmement, on les voit comme des victimes de la pauvreté du Tiers Monde. Une troisième représentation les voit comme des commodités de contrebande dans la traite de personnes illégale. Comme résultat, on les voit simplement comme des victimes de la domination masculine. Tout ceci pose deux questions d’ordre sociopolitique : D’abord, le discours ne représente pas forcément comment les épouses thaïlandaises se considèrent. Deuxièmement, ce discours ne reconnaît pas comment ce groupe de femmes contribue à l’économie globale, puisque les versements des femmes asiatiques sont devenues une stratégie vitale pour les familles asiatiques et aussi jouent un rôle important dans les économies des pays asiatiques d’émigration. Cette communication fait l’argument que les épouses transnationales ne sont pas simplement victimes sans pouvoir mais plutôt des acteurs économiques globales sur une scène qui est structurellement limitée. Pendant que les processus globaux plus larges jouent un rôle important à l’arrière-plan, la migration est une action concrète faite par une personne spécifique dans un contexte spécifique. Donc, cette communication examine les motivations personnelles qui causent la migration de ces femmes au Danemark. Ces motivations incluent l’acceptation des valeurs socioculturelles et aussi, paradoxalement, le rejet des valeurs féminines thaïlandaises plus traditionnelles. De Tailandia con amor: la migración matrimonial transnacional Cada vez más mujeres de Asia atraviesan fronteras para casarse con hombres en el mundo occidental. Este artículo presenta una investigación etnográfica enfocada en mujeres tailandesas casadas con hombres daneses. El discurso actual retrata a estas “novias por correo” a través de un discurso de victimización. Primero, es común que las retratan como desarraigadas y permanentemente enajenadas de Tailandia. Segundo, se les ven simplemente como víctimas de la pobreza del Tercer Mundo. Una tercera representación es la de una comodidad de contrabando en la trata humana ilegal. Como resultado, están vistas como víctimas de la dominación masculina. Todo esto nos plantea dos problemas sociopolíticos: Primero, el discurso no representa necesariamente la auto-percepción de la novia tailandesa. Segundo, no consigue reconocer cómo este grupo de mujeres contribuye a la economía global, ya que las remesas de mujeres asiáticas se han convertido en una estrategia vital para familias asiáticas, y una parte vital de las economías de países asiáticas de emigración. Este artículo sostiene que las novias transnacionales no son simplemente víctimas sin poder, sino actores económicas globales dentro de un escenario estructuralmente reducido. Mientras procesos globales más amplios son factores cruciales de trasfondo, la migración es una acción concreta cumplida por personas específicas en un contexto específico. Por lo tanto este artículo analiza los motivos personales detrás de la migración de estas mujeres a Dinamarca. Estos motivos incluyen los de adoptar valores socio-culturales mientras paradójicamente rechazando valores tailandeses de género más tradicionales. Da Tailândia com todo amor: migração de casamento transnacional em tempos de economia global Mulheres asiáticas estão cada vez mais atravessando fronteiras para casar-se com homens do mundo ocidental. Este artigo apresenta pesquisa etnográfica centrada em mulheres tailandesas casadas com homens dinamarqueses. O discurso existente retrata essas ‘noivas por encomenda’ por meio de um discurso de vitimização. Inicialmente, elas são retratadas como desarraigadas e permanentemente isoladas da Tailândia. Em segundo lugar, elas são vistas como meras vítimas da pobreza do Terceiro Mundo. Uma terceira retratação as vê como mercadoria contrabandeada no tráfico humando ilegal. Desta maneira, elas são vistas como vítimas da simples dominação masculina. Essa retratação dá origem a dois problemas de ordem sociopolítica. Primeiramente, o discurso não representa necessariamente a auto-percepção das ‘noivas’ tailandesas. Em segundo lugar, deixa de reconhecer como esse grupo de mulheres contribúi para a economia global, posto que remessas de dinheiro feitas por mulheres asiáticas têm se tornado uma estratégia vital para famílias de origem asiáticas, bem como uma parte vital das economias de países de imigração asiática. Este artigo argumenta que noivas transnacionais não são apenas vítimas vulneráveis, mas sim atrizes da economia global num confinado palco estrutural. Enquanto processos globais mais abrangentes são fatores cruciais, a migração é uma ação concreta realizada por pessoas específicas num contexto específico. Portanto, este artigo examina os motivos pessoais que levam as mulheres tailandesas a migrarem para a Dinamarca. Tais motivos incluem a aceitação de valores socioculturais familiares e, ao mesmo tempo, rejeitam paradoxicalmente valores tailandeses tradicionais associados a questão de gênero.
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies , 2020
This article explains why significant Thai-Western ‘both-ways’ migration pathways have evolved, grown and sustained over the last decades. It introduces a set of research contributions on transnational social relationships and cross-border connections between people that arise from the increasingly large-scale mobilities and migrations between Thailand and ‘the West’ – countries from Europe, North America and Australia. While Thai and Western people’s social relationships are usually studied as personal stories within a cross-border marriage migration perspective, we consider it necessary to see them as more than marriage migration. Specifically, we argue that the growing ‘both-ways’ Thai-Western migration pathways can only be understood by reference to three features of globalisation processes specific to Thailand: first, cross-border connections and social networks generated by massive West-to-Thailand tourist mobilities that incentivise Western men to see living permanently with a Thai partner as ‘realistic’; second, the radical transformations of Thai rural societies under conditions of economic development that produces ‘surplus’ mobile women; and third, the restrictive state immigration and citizenship regimes in the West and Thailand that leaves few pathways open for migration, other than by ‘marriage’. In sum, Thailand’s specific experience of globalisation is the explanatory backstory to the extraordinary prevalence of Thai-Western ‘both-ways’ migrations.
Thailand's Sex Entertainment: Alienated Labor and the Construction of Intimacy
MDPI Social Sciences, 2022
Promising research from Thailand already highlights women in the sexual entertainment industry as being active participants in both intimate relationships and commercial transactions simultaneously. Notably, they are neither victims nor alienated laborers, as some activist narratives assert. Women working in Thailand’s sex entertainment industry consistently adapt working cultures to modernity’s demand to reduce sex to a commercial transaction while often seeking emotional engagement. One result is that new forms of intimacy emerged, taking on new cultural meanings. The profoundly felt need to care for and take care of someone else [dulae (Thai: ดูแล)], seen as a form of “intimacy”, is, in fact, deeply rooted in the Thai social context. We reframe the literature about sex work in Thailand by assuming that intimacy is key to understanding how “sex work” arose and is sustained there. Focusing on intimacy distances research about sex work away from western assumptions about the commodification and alienation of labor. This gives a more holistic understanding of the complexity of overlapping and intersecting dimensions of the work women perform in sex entertainment. “Intimacy” ties together the issues of money, labor, and a need to care for someone and be taken care of. This thread links women with their customers, families, and themselves.
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.
Transnational labour migration and the politics of care in the Southeast Asian family
Recent increases in female labour migration in and from Asia have triggered a surge of interest in how the absence of the mother and wife for extended periods of time affects the left-behind family, particularly children, in labour-sending countries. While migration studies in the region have shown that the extended family, especially female relatives, is often called on for support in childcare during the mother’s absence it is not yet clear how childcare arrangements are made. Drawing on in-depth interviews with non-parent carers of left-behind children in Indonesia and Vietnam, the paper aims to unveil complexities and nuances around care in the context of transnational labour migration. In so doing it draws attention to the enduring influence of social norms on the organisation of family life when women are increasingly drawn into the global labour market. By contrasting a predominantly patrilineal East Asian family structure in Vietnam with what is often understood as a bilateral South-East Asian family structure in Indonesia, the paper seeks to provide interesting comparative insights into the adaptive strategies that the transnational family pursues in order to cope with the reproductive vacuum left behind by the migrant mother.► We investigate care arrangements for children in Vietnamese and Indonesian migrant families. ► Surrogate carers in sending countries are the most disadvantaged in global care chains. ► Care relationships reflect prevailing power hierarchies and norms. ► The study signifies the need to account for local specificities in researching care in the South.
Balancing Borders: Healthcare Management and Medical Tourism in Thailand
Thailand Study , 2024
This research examines Thailand's approach to managing the dual challenge of medical tourism and migrant healthcare. As a prominent hub for international medical tourists, Thailand has become a global leader in providing high-quality, cost-effective healthcare services. Simultaneously, the country faces significant challenges in addressing the healthcare needs of its diverse migrant population, particularly those from neighboring Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia. This study explores Thailand's strategies for balancing these demands, including the role of public-private partnerships, government policies, infrastructure development, and workforce training. It also considers the social and economic implications of these challenges, such as health equity concerns, the strain on healthcare resources, and the potential for sustainable growth. Through an analysis of case studies, this research offers insights into how Thailand's healthcare system has adapted and identifies lessons that can be applied to other countries facing similar healthcare pressures. Finally, the study provides recommendations for ensuring the equitable provision of healthcare while continuing to foster economic growth through medical tourism.
This dissertation explains the emergence and continuous growth of transnational marriages in Northeast Thailand through a gendered and localized analysis of globalization. The Foreign Husband (Phua Farang) phenomenon, or inter-racial/cross national marriages between Thai women and foreign men, has grown substantially in the last ten years, particularly in Isan or the Northeast Region of Thailand. In 2003-2004 as many as 15,000 women from Isan provinces are married to or engaged in romantic relationships with foreign men mainly from Western European countries and the U.S. Transnationally married Isan women send remittances to their families, schools, and temples, thus contributing to the economic and social transformation of agrarian villages in Thailand’s poorest region. The Phua Farang phenomenon among rural Isan women, and the volume of revenue the phenomenon generates, perplex Thai society and stirs nation-wide debates. I demonstrate through combined gender, class and political economic analyses how the Phua Farang phenomenon in Isan is implicated in the interconnected “worlds” between the global and the local, the macro and micro scales, as well as the production and reproduction realms. Exploring localized global processes that take place at various scales—from the individual, the family and community, to the nation-state and the global political economy—this dissertation reveals on-going struggles between structural forces from “above” and everyday resistance on the ground by classed, ethnicized and gendered subjects exercising their agency. Internal struggles within the Thai nation, shown in ethnicized, classed, and gendered moral and nationalist discourses around the Phua Farang phenomenon, further problematize the dichotomy between the “colonizing global capitalism” and the much celebrated local alternatives to modernity.