Mon Diaspora and the Relationships with their Homeland

Abstract: "This
article
aims
to
explain
the
relations
of
Mon
diaspora
at
Baan
Wang
Ka,
Kanchanaburi
Province,

Thailand
with
their
homeland.
It
argues
that
such
relationships
are
diverse
and
reflect
the

complexity
of
notion
of
“Bifocality”
explaining
that
homeland
is
the
place
of
spiritual
and
cultural

roots
while
host
countries
are
more
associated
with
economic
and
livelihoods.
Mon
diaspora
has

been
living
in
Baan
Wang
Ka
since
AD.
1948.
The
ethnic
suppression
policies
in
Myanmar
are
the

major
cause
of
transnational
mobility
of
these
people,
although,
in
the
later
periods,
some
of
them

left
their
homeland
to
go
to
Thailand
for
trading
and
eventually
resettled
at
the
village.
Currently,

Mon
people
in
the
village
include
four
generations
who
were
from
Myanmar
and
heirs
of
those
from

Myanmar,
however
these
people
associate
with
their
homeland
differently.
Some
relate
to
their

homeland
as
the
place
of
spiritual
and
identity
of
Mon
origin.
For
others,
their
connections
to

homeland
have
to
do
more
with
economic
than
cultural
and
spiritual
dimensions.
Such
diverse

relationships
related
to
not
solely
generation
differences
and
causes
of
migration,
but
also

individual’s
experience,
economic
opportunity,
legal
status,
social
status
in
Thailand
as
well
as

religious
belief.
On
another
score,
the
diversity
of
relationships
has

also

associated
with
their

homeland
and
host
country
contexts.".....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015.