The Interstitial Subjectivities of the Yunnanese Chinese in Thailand1

Abstract

In contrast with the high visibility of the ethnic Chinese in Thailand who originate from the coastal provinces of southeastern China, the migrant Yunnanese Chinese are a later group arriving in the country by land via Burma, mostly after the 1950s. Their migration history and process of resettlement are intertwined with complex political, economic and social factors. Feelings of anxiety, uncertainty and ambivalence regarding who they are are often expressed in the speech of different generations. Although many studies tend to determine a group's identity (identities), the inquiry into the indeterminate aspect of ethnicity in individual members is often overlooked. The present paper examines the interstitial subjectivities of this particular migrant group to disclose an ongoing negotiation of their inner self with the external social world across time and space in connection with their twofold affiliations with Han Chineseness and a Yunnanese overland trading ethos.

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