How Statelessness, Citizenship, and Out-migration Contribute to Stratification Among Rural Elderly in the Highlands of Thailand

Abstract

In rural communities across the Global South, families are relying on temporary and permanent out-migration for work to navigate destabilizing agrarian transformations. While research indicates that success of this household livelihood strategy may depend on the legal status of international migrants, precarious legal status is not solely a problem relegated to people who cross national borders. Indeed, millions worldwide are stateless in the countries of their birth. In this mixed-method study, we assess the importance of legal status for elderly well-being among highlanders in Northern Thailand—rural communities that are experiencing both extensive out-migration and protracted statelessness. We find that elderly wealth and work outcomes are shaped by the legal status of both out-migrants and of the rural elderly themselves. Specifically, we show that when rural elderly or their migrant relatives are stateless, the elderly are more likely to engage in wage work and less likely to gain financial benefits of out-migration to the extent that citizens do. Through ethnographic engagement, we locate the contributions of legal status to rural stratification in its complex entanglements with land access and ethno-nationalism in the region, and in the ways that state and market infrastructures deploy citizenship to surveil highlanders and other minorities in Thailand. Amidst growing calls to resolve statelessness in the Global South, our research suggests that the combination of out-migration and uneven extension of citizenship in rural communities is likely to exacerbate stratification, both for migrants and for those who rarely leave home.

Legal Status as a Life Course Determinant of Health: Parent Status, Adjudication Stages, and HIV Knowledge Among Highlanders in Thailand

“…More research is needed to contextualize these ndings and better understand how LS may inform, exacerbate, or buffer other barriers related to ethnicity, culture, and language. This need is further supported by prior research on statelessness in Thailand with respect to variations in ethnic groups' experiences with civil registration and identi cation policies, land dispossession, access to education, free mobility, and safe, equitable employment compensation [44,76,92,94,96].…”

“…Wealth was measured in quartiles based on a factor analysis of house materials [94]. We categorized age groups as follows: 17-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-55, and 56 years old and older.…”

“…Ethnographic evidence suggests this is plausible, but not likely driving estimates [14,79]. Authorities are discouraged from recognizing the citizenship of anyone who cannot prove their birth in the country, thus undermining claims of older generations who were mostly born at home and lack certi cation of birth or early residence [94].…”

“…This has occurred through direct and indirect ways, including LS documents being required for individual enrollment and/or schools in communities with high levels of statelessness being under-resourced or under-staffed [90][91][92][93]. More indirect pathways involve state restrictions on land, mobility, and livelihoods that contribute heavily to wealth disparities along LS lines [94], which can pose additional barriers to educational enrollment and attainment among child in affected households. In turn, education has been critical for acquiring citizenship among highlanders born without status [14].…”

Reproductive health at conflict borders: a cross-sectional survey of human rights violations and perinatal outcomes at the Thai-Myanmar border

“…We present a novel study of HRV prevalence and perinatal outcomes among women residing in a diverse context of chronic displacement at Thailand’s northern border with Myanmar. This is one of the most protracted displacement sites globally, where human rights abuses against DPs, migrant workers, and stateless persons have been consistently documented over decades, but often separately [ 40 – 53 ]. In this relatively small geographic space, women’s situations reflect broadly relevant experiences of protracted displacement, ethnic-based discrimination, and precarious LS and related threats to health.…”