Cross-Country Merit: New Identity and Negotiation of Burmese Migrant Workers in Khon Kaen Province

Abstract

This article aims to present the place-making of Myanmar migrant workers through culture, thoughts, belief, (especially religious belief) which responds to the objectives of religious space which is a part of the local-local connection. The article explores how the religious space is created or operated when Myanmar migrant workers are living in the new place. This article applies multi-sited ethnography. The main research site is at Myanmar migrant community located behind a factory in Khon Kaen Province. The researcher collected data by formal interview, informal interview, participant observation and non-participant observation. The results show that the religious space is a part of their trans locality in the new place and it is used as a tool to create Myanmar migrant workers’ territory with disjuncture. These include physical and ethnical territory presented through       a pavilion for rituals and religious ceremonies on Buddhist festivals. Religion as a sacred space is used to invent the myth of Myanmar migrants created by Thais to be more positive through being devout and charitable Buddhists.