Diversity, Space Levels and Approaches to Multiculturalism in Thailand

Abstract

As new ethno-nationalisms arise and as ethnic minorities increasingly mobilize to claim their rights, multiculturalism has also arrived in Thailand and beyond, while the terminology of rights and protection of minorities remains heavily contested and open to negotiation. The article argues that multiculturalism as a discourse is relatively recent in Thailand and that the concept has arrived in a time in which many European countries and even the success stories of multicultural policies of immigrant integration, like Canada, withdraw from them and replace them with increasing securitization. The article argues that there are some encouraging signs, but the direction of the government and civil society seem to misperceive current realities of the rural. Not only shift NGO’s and sections of civil society to join mainstream development, may disadvantaged groups move to the City to form migrant enclaves in Chiang Mai and Bangkok and the life-worlds in the uplands are changing fast, depending on remittances from rural-urban and international migrants. The article goes on to propose to study multiculturalism as everyday relation, strategies and tactics, configurations of majority-minority relations and current formations of struggle and conflict. This perspective has been opened up by scholars who research everyday multiculturalism in urban encounters. The article also argues for the increasing importance of rights and these rights are associated with practical livelihood issues rather than abstract values or rights discourses.