African Migration to Thailand: Race, Mobility, and Integration

Description

This book, based on exploratory ethnographic research, analyzes the experiences of African migrants in Thailand. Thailand has always been a regional migration hub with Africans being the most recent. Sitting at the intersection of race and migration studies, this book focuses on the challenges Black and labor migrants face trying to integrate into a society that has had very limited contact with and knowledge about Black Africans. Bringing together research from African, Thai, and European scholars, this volume focuses on forced migrants, such as Somali asylum seekers, and labor migrants, largely African men seeking better livelihoods in niche economies such as gem trading, garment wholesale, and football playing and coaching. The book also includes theoretical contributions to the understanding of precarity and human security, the concept of in/visibility to analyze the challenges African migrants face in Thailand as well as the concept of othering to understand discrimination against Africans. The book also analyzes the Thai migration policy context and the challenges facing Thai policy-makers, law enforcement representatives, and the migrants themselves. While not comparative in nature, this volume directly connects with studies of Africans in other parts of Asia, especially China. Addressing an important gap in migration research, this book will be of interest to researchers across the fields of migration and mobility studies, African Studies, and Asian Studies. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Contributors Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1 Africans in Thailand Chapter 2 Africans in Thailand: Mobility, race, and integration Chapter 3 ‘Good guys in, bad guys out’: Thailand’s immigration policy and perceptions of African immigrants Chapter 4 Somali asylum seekers in Bangkok: Coping strategies of the (in)visible and (in)secure Chapter 5 Escaping Al-Shabaab and seeking safety in Thailand: Somalis in Bangkok Chapter 6 Being Black and trying to survive in a niche economy: Nigerian traders in Bangkok Chapter 7 African gems traders in Chanthaburi province Chapter 8 Following the ball: Thailand, the new frontier for African footballers Chapter 9 Looking forward Index