IMPERCEPTIBLE NAKED-LIVES & ATROCITIES: FORCffiLY DISPLACED PEOPLES & THE THAI-BURMESE IN-BETWEEN SPACES A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE MAY 2003 By Decha Tangseefa Dissertation Committee: Michael J. Shapiro, Chairperson Manfred Henningsen Sankara Krishna Nevzat Soguk Leslie E. Sponsel Acknowledgements When I was in the Burman-Karen war zones, in a gathering of forcibly displaced Karen, one of them asked me what made me decide to pursue this research. I responded to him that it had to do with one story and one incident. The story began with my illiterate mother's life-journey. When she was twelve, she migrated to Thailand with her "owner" boss after being sold to that family three years earlier by her fisher parents living in a seashore village of San Thou, in southeast China. Growing up listening to her stories of suffering, I had invariably felt anguished. But when I started to learn more about the forcibly displaced peoples along the Thai-Burmese border zones, I began to wonder why, as a Thai citizen, I knew almost nothing about them, and also why Thai society had rarely been concerned with the plight of at least one hundred thousand peoples living in a string of "camps" along the border zones and more than one million "illegal" laborers roaming in the country. The more I learnt about the tormenting stories of the forcibly displaced from Burma, the more my mother's stories paled. As a member of the first Thai-born generation of my Chinese family, I told the Karen interviewer that I had been familiar with a thing or two about being one of "the others" in a host society. Together with sixteen other siblings and three mothers, almost all of whom lived under the same roof for many years with material hardships and acute psychological complications, a big chunk of my life was spent as a "borderline" person in a highly status-conscious Thai society. I felt that it should not be far-fetched to say that I had something in common with these forcibly displaced peoples from Burma. Yet, being 111 one of only two ofthe seventeen siblings who finished a bachelor's degree and the only one who had been lucky enough to pursue a doctoral degree, I admitted that I had become one of the privileged in Thai society. Nonetheless, I often thought that I could make some use of my education and help the peoples with whom I felt I had something in common. Theoretically put, I felt, and still feel, that my locus of enunciation should allow me to pursue and write a dissertation with very little lack of physiognomic sense in my study. The incident that explains why I was pursing this research came during my fieldwork when I was interviewing three Karen women from Burma who were then living in a northern province of Thailand. It turned out that one of them was born just two days before me. I came out of the interview with many questions and the most important one was: What would happen had I been born as a twin brother of hers? I might have already been dead. But surely I would not have been sitting there as a Ph.D. candidate interviewing her. From that moment on, I came to the conclusion that just because one could not have chosen where one was born, that does not mean that one cannot be treated with justice. So, I told the person who asked me that since you and other Karens had been treated unjustly, I felt the urge to do something. As a student of politics, I thus had attempted to understand the entanglements of the atrocious situations committed upon the forcibly displaced Karens with the aim of disseminating to, and engaging with. the Thai society, which I believed had to, and could, do many things to alleviate the violent situations - for the sake of both Thailand and the forcibly displaced peoples from Burma. iv Nonetheless, given my humble background, the debts I have owed through the journey of conducting this research and completing this piece of writing is just a tip of an iceberg of debts that date back well before I began this dissertation. They are the debts to too many people who have supported or guided me to aspire, to pursue, and to finally finish my graduate study at the University of Hawai'i. The Jist is too long to mention here. For those whom I do not name, I only hope that they understand how much I feel grateful for their assistance, encouragement, or advice. This is especially true for the many silenced Karen names that could not be included here for their own safety. It is a severe irony that with this study's intention of making them perceptible, their names must be erased. Even though my erasure results from my fear of rendering their lives more vulnerable than they have already been, it is a shame and politically hard to bear. This shamefulness itself signifies the very reality of the state's sovereign power and the possibilities of its inflicting atrocities upon human lives. Definitely, without my Karen informants the dissertation does not exist. I hope that it will not be long before I can publicly acknowledge all of their names and give all the credit they deserve for the finished product of this dissertation. The best I can do at this point is to dedicate this piece of writing to them, as well as to my mother and my wife. While my mother gave and nourished my life, my wife sustains it. My mother's endurance is exemplary while the wife's tranquility is hard to match. The first person knows only language of love and patience while the second walks toward a life of ineffability. "Gods" know how much weight married life has put on both ofthem. As the only person in my family who has had an opportunity to pursue a doctoral degree, this dissertation is a manifestation of the fact that my mother and elder v siblings had sacrificed for too many years so that I can write this page today, while a couple of them still suffer unutterable conditions. My heartfelt expression of gratitude to them is forever inadequate. I am also consistently aware that I would not have come this far had I not been fortunate to meet two mentors in my early college years, Chaiwat and Suwanna Satha­ Anand. They cannot imagine the extent of their inspiration on the young man, which began the first days we met. I have since determined to invent myself to hopefully possess at least some fraction of their exemplary qualities: as academics, as teachers, and as persons. Their love for wisdom and knowledge, as well as their concerns for others' sufferings, have never been confined in the classroom. Once I arrived in Hawai'i, three teachers at the Philosophy Department were always supportive and were my guiding lights: Roger Ames, Mary and Jim Tiles. At the Political Science Department, one could not ask for a better mentor. Mike Shapiro has been and will always be an ocean of knowledge for me, wherein I often swam (and occasionally almost drowned) without seeing any shore. For now, I survive. Both my student life and this dissertation would not see the end of the tunnel had it not been for his unfailing support and openness, as a political theorist as well as a human being. Manfred Henningsen has done the most since I began my graduate study to keep me honest in my intellectual pursuit. With him, moreover, I always make sure that the issue of political agency is not erased from my research. Les Sponsel has trained me to be an effective anthropologist, one who will never forget to inquire about the ethical bearing of my research upon the situations of the peoples in "the field." Sankaran Krishna opened a new world of postcolonial studies to me. It has been a world that has since fascinated me vi and enabled me to better understand the complexities of peoples' sufferings in the "third world" from unfamiliar dimensions. I am aware, however, that I have not yet lived up to his challenges and the challenges of this body of knowledge. Nevi Soguk unconsciously yet charmingly called my attention to the "refugee" movements and international migration. I know that I am a beginner in this area, but I have been forever hooked to at least parts of this intellectual terrain. With all these fascinating combinations of a dissertation committee, one's intellectual pursuit cannot help but be forcefully strengthened. I also owe debts of gratitude to the following teachers both inside and outside Thailand. In Thailand, the rigor of academic pursuit and integrity of the following five teachers as well as the personal experiences I had with them have directly or indirectly shaped my career path and my decision to pursue this research: Ajams Saneh Chamarik, Sombat Chantornwong, Chanvit Kasetsiri, Yos Santasombat and Chairat Charoensin-o­ lam. Moreover, since my first year at Thammasat University, Ajam Noranit Setthabutra has always been supportive toward my life and academic paths. Outside Thailand, Glenn Paige, Geoff White, Ming-Bao Yue, Phyllis Turnbull, Barbara Andaya, Ken Breazeale, Peter Hershock, Thongchai Winichakul, Kathy Ferguson, Jon Golberg-Hiller, Sandy Schram, George Kent, Martin Smith, Alexander Horstmann, and John Synott have, in one way or another, rendered their intellectual advice, care, or encouragement.