Migration, Micro-Business and Tourism in Thailand: Highlanders in the City
About this ebook
This book investigates the social, economic, and political embeddedness of street vendors in urban tourist contexts in Thailand. Based on extensive field research, it presents a detailed analysis of urban-directed mobility patterns and revealing strategies and dilemmas in the urban souvenir business. Focusing on the development of urban ethnic minority souvenir stalls run mostly by people belonging to the highland group of Akha, the author explains the spatial expansion of ethnic businesses and assesses the economic and political obstacles micro-entrepreneurs are confronted with. The book offers an understanding of the everyday practices and social relations of and between unequally powerful actors related to ethnic minority tourism in urban contexts, and systematically integrates individual and collective action into socio-economic and politico-institutional contexts.
A significant contribution to migration and ethnic minority studies in the Thai and Asian urban tourism context, the book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of Southeast Asian studies, tourism, migration, and ethnic minority studies.
About the author
Alexander Trupp is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management at the University of South Pacific, Fiji; a former lecturer at the Institute for Population and Social Research at Mahidol University, Thailand, and editor-in-chief of the Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies. He obtained his PhD in Theoretical and Applied Geography at the University of Vienna, Austria.
