Paper short abstract:

This study examines "border dignity" through subjectification practices in Mae Sot, showing how dignity formation can lead to othering. It highlights how reshaping identity and dignity often involves self-other distinctions, influencing borderland relations.

Paper long abstract:

Borders are conceptualized as complex and porous "mosaic" spaces where diverse actors converge and interact. In recent years, geopolitical discourses surrounding the "Dark Zomia" have heightened scholarly attention on the Thai-Myanmar border region (Pinkaew, 2024). Drawing on Foucault’s theoretical framework of dignity and subjectification—which views dignity as a social construct shaped by power discourses and continuously reconstituted through subjectification practices.

Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted from 2022 to 2024 in the border town of Mae Sot, this study examines the subjectification practices of Thai-Chinese merchants and their profound impact on border dignity and community development. The Teochew community, which constitutes the majority of the Chinese population in Mae Sot, upholds the worship of Song Dafeng Reverend and associated charitable hall culture as a key mechanism for fostering social cohesion and a sense of belonging through religious relief activities. Symbolic charitable rituals have facilitated interactions with local government institutions and established multidimensional personal and commercial networks. This integrated network of charitable activities, religious practices, cultural education, and economic relations forms a unique framework of "social capital," reinforcing the community's central position within the borderland space.

However, these identity-based subjectification practices in constructing dignity are accompanied by power asymmetries and tensions, particularly visible in their interactions with the marginalized Myanmar migrant community at the border. This study elucidates how border dignity is articulated, negotiated, and reconstituted through faith-based practices, offering new perspectives and insights for broader research on subjectification theory, community development, and border space dynamics.