Live in and Out of the Shadow: The Narratives of Rohingya in Bangkok

Thailand is one of the places where the Rohingya crisis has become complicated due to geopolitical complexities and smuggling and trafficking of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar. The border between these two countries is 2416 km while Thailand is a destination and transit country that obstructs the Rohingya on their way to third countries. In 2009, the situation of the Rohingya came into the public consciousness when the Royal Thai Navy was condemned for pushing Rohingya on boats back out to sea. This ethnographic research was conducted in Bangkok suburbs and outer districts where the Rohingya women and men chose to live in or near a Thai Muslim community when they are outside of their homeland. Two male Rohingya key informants fled persecution and poverty in Myanmar to Thailand decades ago, and one female has recently entered the country fleeing discrimination. They were granted work permits and achieved permanent resident status from the Thai government. These two generations of Rohingya migrants ascribed personal stories and lived experiences as the living narrativity of the displaced people. Narrative method, a conventional ethnography, granted authority of voice with a meaningful story when an individual retells the disparate experiences of their lives.