THE SOCIAL SPACE OF BURMESE MIGRANT WORKERS IN SAMUT SAKHON PROVINCE

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to determine the social space of Burmese migrant workers in Samut Sakhon Province. The data collection was carried out through participant observation, non-participant observation, focus group discussion, and in-depth interviews. The key informants were 30 Burmese migrant workers working in Samut Sakhon area. The findings revealed that the physical characteristics of their community can be described as rental accommodation available in Thai domestic residential communities; namely dormitory, room for rent, house for rent, and buildings renovated for rent. The migrant workers’ living accommodations were considered as crowded and cramped. In terms of space of mind, the temple was their worthy place for socialization and doing activities such as the Buddhist Lent rituals. For the social space, they were provided with social space as could be seen from having public relation boards with Burmese language in industrial factories, government offices, banks, department stores; and the occurrence of shops selling Burmese food and goods in weekend markets, Burmese tea shops, and betel nut shops which were considered necessary for them.