“When Your Child Gets Easy Money, It Feels Good Being a Mom”: <i>Thai migrations and wild-berry picking in northern Sweden as a form of social reproduction</i>

Abstract

The present article explores 'free' wild-berry picking in Sweden, as experienced by Thai migrants. Thai women with permanent residence permits in Sweden pick and sell wild berries to earn extra income during the summer holidays. They also invite seasonal migrants who provide the wild-berry industry with berries, but who have no formal employment. This private form of organising berry picking can be understood as a strategy, in that women with heavy social and financial responsibilities have found a way of maintaining the social reproduction of their Thai families and helping them earn important additional incomes.

Care and concern in the research process: meeting ethical and epistemological challenges through multiple engagements and dialogue with research subjects

“…This process enabled the joint production of enough knowledge and understanding of their work and lives to actually discuss matters in an informed way and to enter into dialogue with them, rather than simply asking questions. In the end, these group interviews gave new insights with regard to the different meanings of berry picking, most importantly in terms of the social reproduction of transnational family relations the seasonal migration enabled, which had not previously been highlighted in research (Sörensson, 2015).…”

“…By way of this method, the understanding of 'free' wild-berry picking began to develop from being strongly focused on the content of work (associated with labour rights issues) to also include the meaning of work. It was impossible to avoid seeing that the pickers enjoyed spending time together in the forest, an observation which gradually expanded the content-based understanding of berry picking to also include an analysis of the meaning of the work carried out in transnational kin groups (Sörensson, 2015). Although the aspect of having fun while working in the forest had been expressed in the previous interviews, its significance was not perceived until observed in action.…”

“…While male Thai seasonal migrants constitute the core workforce in the wild-berry industry, Thai women now constitute the largest group of foreign-born women living permanently in rural Sweden (Haandrikman, 2014; Webster and Haandrikman, 2014). This settlement pattern is related to the growth in international tourism and the globalized marriage market (Hedberg and Haandrikman, 2014; Hedman et al, 2009; Niedomysl et al, 2010; Plambech, 2008; Sörensson, 2015).…”

“…This is because the majority of immigrants to Sweden are refugees, while Thai women who settle permanently in Sweden receive their residencies based on a relationship with a Swedish man. The recruitment of Thai nationals to work as ‘free’ pickers is related to Thai women’s permanent migration to Sweden, as the women invite their relatives to come and pick wild berries (Sörensson, 2015). In addition to the wild-berry phenomenon, the Thai women in Sweden are commonly represented in a rather dualistic and dichotomized way, either as subordinated and abused victims of a more or less systematized wife import based in Swedish men’s sex tourism to Thailand ( The Local , 2010), or as active agents with a high level of labour market participation.…”

“…Based on a study carried out by the first author, examining transnational labour in the wild-berry industry in northern Sweden, this section describes and discusses five phases of the research process. Empirical data was collected on a repeated number of occasions among a total of 17 Thai wild-berry pickers, both Thai women living permanently in Sweden and their Thai relatives who visit Sweden seasonally to earn important income in the berry forests (Sörensson, 2015). The preparation phase, i.e.…”