Networks of Resilience: Legal Precarity and Transborder Citizenship among the Karen from Myanmar in Thailand

IF 0.9 Q2 AREA STUDIES

TRaNS: Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia Pub Date : 2019-01-10 DOI:10.1017/trn.2018.12

Indrė Balčaitė

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引用次数: 3

Abstract

Abstract This study probes the relationship between legal precarity and transborder citizenship through the case of the Karen from Myanmar in Thailand. Collected through ethnographic multi-sited fieldwork between 2012 and 2016, interconnected individual life stories evolving across the Myanmar-Thailand border allow the critical interrogation of the political and legal categories of ‘migrancy’, ‘refugeeness’, and ‘citizenship’, teasing out their blurry boundaries in migrants’ experience. Following the recent critical research in legal ethnography, this study demonstrates that legal precarity is not simply an antithesis to citizenship. The social and legal dimensions of citizenship may diverge, creating in-between areas of not-yet-full-citizenship with varying levels of heft (Macklin 2007). The article consists of three parts. First, it offers a theoretical framework to reconcile the Karen legal precarity (even de facto statelessness) and citizenship, even on both sides of the border (legally impossible). Second, it presents the three groups of Karen in Thailand, produced by the interaction of three major waves of Karen eastward migration and tightening Thai citizenship and migration regulations: Thai Karen, refugees, and migrant workers. All three face varying levels of legal precarity of temporary status without full citizenship. However, the last part demonstrates the intertwined nature of those groups. A grassroots transborder perspective reveals the resilience of the Karen networks when pooling together resources of the hubs established on Thai soil by the three waves. Even the most recent arrivals in Thailand use those resources to move from one precarious legal status to another and even to clandestinely obtain citizenship.

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弹性网络:缅甸克伦人在泰国的法律不稳定性和跨境公民身份

摘要本研究以缅甸克伦族人在泰国为个案，探讨法律不稳定性与跨境公民身份之间的关系。通过2012年至2016年之间的民族志多地点田野调查收集，相互关联的个人生活故事跨越缅甸-泰国边境演变，允许对“移民”，“难民”和“公民身份”的政治和法律类别进行批判性审讯，梳理他们在移民经历中的模糊界限。根据最近对法律民族志的批判性研究，本研究表明，法律不稳定性不仅仅是公民身份的对立面。公民身份的社会和法律维度可能会出现分歧，从而产生不同程度的未完全公民身份的中间区域(Macklin 2007)。本文由三部分组成。首先，它提供了一个理论框架来调和克伦人在法律上的不稳定性(甚至是事实上的无国籍状态)和公民身份，甚至在边界的两边(在法律上是不可能的)。其次，介绍了在泰国的三个克伦人群体，它们是由克伦人东迁和泰国公民身份和移民法规收紧的三次主要浪潮相互作用产生的:泰国克伦人、难民和移民工人。这三个国家都面临着不同程度的法律不稳定性，即没有完全公民身份的临时身份。然而，最后一部分展示了这些群体相互交织的本质。基层跨界视角揭示了克伦网络在汇集三波浪潮在泰国土地上建立的中心资源时的弹性。即使是最近抵达泰国的人，也会利用这些资源从一个不稳定的法律地位转移到另一个，甚至秘密地获得公民身份。

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来源期刊

TRaNS: Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia AREA STUDIES-

CiteScore

3.00

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： TRaNS approaches the study of Southeast Asia by looking at the region as a place that is defined by its diverse and rapidly-changing social context, and as a place that challenges scholars to move beyond conventional ideas of borders and boundedness. TRaNS invites studies of broadly defined trans-national, trans-regional and comparative perspectives. Case studies spanning more than two countries of Southeast Asia and its neighbouring countries/regions are particularly welcomed.