Readings: Mills, Thai Women in the Global Labor Force: Consuming Desires, Contested Selves (entire book)

1. What does thansamay mean? How is the concept gendered?

2. Mills writes that young women are frequently used in Thailand as symbols of progress and modernity. How does this differ from other accounts of gender and modernity that we have read? With what consequences?

3. How are the motivations for women's labor migration both personal and familial? How does Mills's depiction of migration relate to our earlier discussions about whether factory labor liberates women?

4. In Chapter 7, Mills explores laborers' consumption practices as a way in which they try to balance economic responsibility with the desire to be modern. Using specific examples, are the women successful in striking this balance? How do their roles as producers relate to their identities as consumers?

5. The term "agency" comes up several times in Mills's analysis. What does she mean by this term? How does she explore its dimensions through the lives of Thai migrants and their families? Are you persuaded by her analysis of their agency and its broader implications?

 

Question for Response Paper #6: Migration and Gendered Modernity in Thailand

Mills writes, "Women's mobility highlights the participation of migrants and their families in powerful cultural discourses about Thai modernity, or what in Thai is called khwaam pen thansamay, 'being up-to-date.' The resulting conflicts and tensions are most clearly expressed and mediated through ideas and practices of gender and gendered identities" (5). For this assignment, you are to pick one idea or practice of gender and gender identities and explain how it illustrates the dilemmas of Thai modernity in Mills's analysis. Based on your discussion, what do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of her argument about Thai modernity, labor migration, and women's agency?

For tips about crafting response papers, click here.

 

For more information, contact:  aleshkow@holycross.edu