Contesting and complying: gender and ethnicity among Thai-Sikh diaspora youth in Bangkok

Abstract

The Thai-Sikh diaspora community is prominent in Bangkok. The youth of this community struggle to maintain their ethnicity while simultaneously trying to fit into the multi-cultural society in Thailand. Literature at the intersection of diaspora, ethnicity and migration notes that ethnic boundaries take on a very important role among migrants. Uncut hair and religious practices are seen as markers of Sikh ethnicity, while control over young girls’ movement and sexuality, teaching Sikh traditions to the young and eating traditional food are used to ensure ethnic purity. This study looks at Thai-Sikh youth in international schools in Bangkok, a world far removed from that of their parents. The study found that young girls and boys rebel against some markers, while complying with others. Specifically, boys rebel against physical markers such as uncut hair, while girls rebel against social markers such as control over their sexuality achieved through control over movement, clothing, marriage and freedom to work away from the family. Both boys and girls seek to strike a balance between tradition and modernity by contesting and complying with ethnic boundaries in different ways even if the implications of these ethnic markers are drastically different for each group.

Keywords:

• Thai-Sikh
• diaspora
• youth
• tradition
• modernity
• negotiating boundaries

Notes

1. Their sense of masculinity could strongly influence the boys’ conformity to gender roles. However, this was beyond our scope of study.