On 1 March 2023, SEA Junction, in collaboration with the IPSR In-House Seminar and the Mahidol Migration Centre (MMC), held another session of its bi-monthly Wednesday SEA Mobilities series. The seminar featured Professor Pinkaew Laungaramsri, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Chiang Mai University, presenting her work “Governing by Paper: Mediating Textual Border and Negotiating Mobility in Thailand.” The session was moderated by Associate Professor Sudarat Musikawong of the Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University.
In her presentation, Professor Pinkaew discussed the arguments developed in her award-winning book, which traces the genealogy of Thailand’s bureaucratic identity inscription from premodern times to the neoliberal era. Her research examines how identification documents have been used as tools of governance and how their logic has continually shifted between the demand for migrant labour and concerns over national security. This tension, she argues, has ultimately weakened the intended function of the document regime itself.
Drawing from her article on governing by paper, Professor Pinkaew highlighted how borders and the bureaucratic networks surrounding them act as epistemological and material sites that produce categories of people. She emphasized that the circulation of border-related documents creates mediators operating both inside and outside the state, generating informal economies such as extortion, bribery, and brokerage. These extra-state activities, while facilitating unauthorized mobility, reveal the fluidity of documentary practices and the ways in which bureaucratic tools can unintentionally undermine state control.
The seminar offered participants an analytical lens for understanding how Thailand’s identity documentation system not only defines migrants but also shapes the continual making and remaking of the border itself. The online event was broadcast via Zoom and livestreamed on the Facebook pages of IPSR and SEA Junction, expanding access for audiences across the region.
