COPYRIGHT AND USE OF THIS THESIS This thesis must be used in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Reproduction of material protected by copyright may be an infringement of copyright and copyright owners may be entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. Section 51 (2) of the Copyright Act permits an authorized officer of a university library or archives to provide a copy (by communication or otherwise) of an unpublished thesis kept in the library or archives, to a person who satisfies the authorized officer that he or she requires the reproduction for the purposes of research or study. The Copyright Act grants the creator of a work a number of moral rights, specifically the right of attribution, the right against false attribution and the right of integrity. You may infringe the author’s moral rights if you: - fail to acknowledge the author of this thesis if you quote sections from the work - attribute this thesis to another author - subject this thesis to derogatory treatment which may prejudice the author’s reputation For further information contact the University’s Director of Copyright Services sydney.edu.au/copyright RURAL CROSSROADS: CLASS AND MIGRATION IN PERI-URBAN CHIANG MAI TUBTIM TUBTIM DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN SOCIAL SCIENCE CHIANG MAI UNIVERSITY UNDER COTUTELLE AGREEMENT WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY FEBUARY 2014 RURAL CROSSROADS: CLASS AND MIGRATION IN PERI-URBAN CHIANG MAI TUBTIM TUBTIM A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN SOCIAL SCIENCE CHIANG MAI UNIVERSITY UNDER COTUTELLE AGREEMENT WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY FEBUARY 2014 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When I graduated from my Masters degree in 2001 based on a study of resource management in Laos. I did not think of studying further toward a PhD. However, when I came to live in Nam Jam village in 2007, I found myself living between different worlds in a single village. The diversity of the village, and my own complex place in it, piqued my curiosity. I decided that if I were ever to study this was going to be my new field site as well as my new home. Before continuing with the story of how this thesis originated, was carried out and was completed with the help of so many people, I would like to make some formal and genuine expressions of gratitude. First, the Royal Golden Jubilee PhD Program of the Thailand Research Fund provided generous scholarship support, without which I could not undertake my PhD. Other grant support came from the Challenge of the Agrarian Transition in Southeast Asia Program, which provided not just funding but also scholarly support and guidance in my field of enquiry. Thanks are due in particular to Professor Philip Kelly, whose encouragement and assistance resulted in a key publication on migration that was part of my program. Money from the Royal Thai Embassy in Australia towards a field research grant also helped supplement my fieldwork costs, as did the PRSS scheme administered through the University of Sydney. The Cotutelle Program between Chiang Mai and Sydney Universities allowed me to benefit from the combination of two PhD programs, each of which provided its own style and approach to PhD supervision and support. The Social Sciences program at Chiang Mai gives an intensive up-front theory-based coursework program. The geography program at Sydney provides a collegiate working and social environment and a range of seminar-based and field-based opportunities for collaborative and applied thinking. At Chiang Mai University, Ann helped to keep all the students on track - and more or less on time - with her great administrative support. At Sydney University, the staffs of the Postgraduate Office of the Science Faculty were most helpful, and in iv the School of Geosciences I would like to thank Nikki Montenegro, Sue Taylor, Nellie Liew and Ramana Karanam for their cheerful and great support. In their roles as postgraduate coordinators, Derek Wyman and Bill Pritchard did a lot behind the scenes to assist me and my fellow PhD students toward completion. John Connell assisted with helpful recommendations for reading on counter-urbanisation. Friends and fellow students have been an indispensable part of the support network that helped me toward my PhD. Ed and Jo, my PhD cohort at Chiang Mai, joined me in the “no coffin, no tears” approach to procrastinating PhD work. At Sydney University, we had our Southeast Asian gang at AMRC who bound their fate together along the PhD path of no return – Toey, Lada, Mattijs, Oulavanh, Somatra, Rotha, Wora, Huy, Surin, and Zoe among others. Trina taught me how to make maps. Also in Sydney, Estelle Dryland provided outstanding assistance with language editing. My supervisors came on board with my project in different ways, and each has made a unique contribution toward its completion. Professor Yos Santasombat, my primary supervisor, originally asked me whether I was interested in studying further when we met at a conference in Chiang Mai. I replied that I was interested, but had no financial support. He told me that he had funding from the Thailand Research Fund. I was honoured that he thought of me to join as one of his dozen or so students – it was only later that I learned that this funding was about to expire if he could not find a student to take it up! He said that he knew that I could finish, but was not sure that I would finish. So I replied that there is no concern here – I would be too concerned about the reputation of my clan not to complete. Associate Professor Jamaree Chiengthong, when I asked her to join my supervisory team, said that she was easygoing and agreed to come on board straight away. Once when I talked with her about my fieldwork I told her about the lack of interaction between different groups. Her response was very practical and straightforward – she asked, “why do they need to interact?” In this way she helped bring me back from any temptation to romanticize the village. v Associate Professor Kurt Iveson came on board as supervisor as the key University of Sydney advisor under the Cotutelle arrangement. He was completely new to the field area, but gave a great deal of support. He told me that in his experience there were two groups of students. The first group always came to see him when they had problems. The second group, to which I belonged, avoided him when they had problems. Kurt helped me see and articulate the significance of place and place-making, which shaped my thesis a good deal. He had several plans to visit my field site, and finally managed to do so in time to join my comprehensive exams and my thesis defence. I wish also to express my thanks to the various external examiners who served at my various exams in Chiang Mai. These include Associate Professor Paul Cohen for my qualifying exam, Assistant Professor Chusak Witayapak during my thesis proposal and defence, Dr. Amporn Jirattikorn for my comprehensive exam, and Professor Jonathan Rigg during my thesis defence. Jonathan’s work has also inspired me. At my field sites, the staff of twelve sub-districts in the peri-urban area around Chiang Mai and some further afield gave time and information essential to the thesis, as did several government officials including Sopon Tangphet and Arkorn Buakhlai. I would like to express particular thanks to Nong Khwai sub-district staff and to village leaders in Nong Khwai and Nam Jam, along with other key informants. Many, many people from all social groups in the village who are the subject of this thesis have been generous with their time and understanding when I entered their life worlds with all kinds of questions. They have not only been helpful in the research process, but have also allowed me to get to know them as friends and neighbours. Doing this research made me realise how much I owe to my own original “habitus”, based on my background in rural society. My parents’ pleasure and pride at my completion of the PhD is no less than my own, and this pleasure has also given me a sense of “reaching the shore” in becoming the first PhD in my home village in Samut Prakan, where my parent’s generation had limited opportunities for education. vi My husband Phil listened to my thesis angst and to my questions about theory and concepts, often after midnight. His good ideas and suggestions more often than not met with my resistance. Nevertheless, his constant support helped me finish the thesis with a soft landing. Some say that travel is the best test of a couple’s relationship. For me, the PhD journey has been a great proof, not least because of all the other nice things we have enjoyed together along the way . The nicest way I could think to thank him is by promising him that I will never do another PhD! To all readers, thank you for your interest in my work. Hope you will enjoy some parts of it. My supervisors like Chapter 5 the most. Tubtim Tubtim vii Thesis Title Rural Crossroads: Class and Migration in Peri-urban Chiang Mai Author Ms. Tubtim Tubtim Degree Doctor of Philosophy (Social Science) Thesis Advisory Committee Professor Dr. Yos Santasombat Advisor Associate Professor Dr. Jamaree Chiengthong Co-advisor Associate Professor Dr. Kurt Iveson Co-advisor Abstract Peri-urban Thailand is a site for the coming together of rural and urban people from various class backgrounds, who hold different values and understandings of place, and who practice diverse economic activity and use land in multiple ways.