I grew up among the rice fields, rivers and forests of north-central Thailand. As the child of a mixed ethnic family, I quietly harbored many questions of identity and subjectivity. I had to encounter with cross-cultural life always, My mother is half overseas Chinese (Hainanese) and half ethnic Lao, while my father was of Black Tai ethnicity. Our diasporic family endeavored to construct and negotiate a space for our difference within the context of Thai nationalism.

When I was given the opportunity to study at Chiangmai University, I joined the Department of Anthropology to pursue the questions of my youth. After completing my B.A. in Anthropology with an award in Research Excellence, I accepted an invitation from the Heinrich Boll Foundation to be the coordinator on an Alternative Media project. During my year as coordinator, I travelled around northern Thailand, visiting universities and some ethnic communities to conduct training workshops in writing and documentary production for students and ethnic community members. I then applied for graduate studies in the Department of Anthropology at Thammasat University,where I undertook fulltime coursework for two years, followed by one year of fieldwork in the deep south of Thailand one year of thesis writing. This culminated in my MA thesis, entitled “It’s very difficult to be Melayu: Ethnicity, Meaning and Negotiation in the Everyday Life of the Melayu Ethnic Group in Thailand’s Deep South”(2007) is my Thesis. Shortly after completing my thesis, I joined the Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.

Over the course of my studies and academic career, I have pursued my vocation of an independent journalist, activist, researcher, photographer and backpacker. All of these activities have been stones on the pathway of my journey to find myself. As an anthropologist, my ambition is to be a cultural storyteller.

At the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Center (SAC),I had many great opportunities to develop my skills and embark upon research projects which took me beyond Thailand. In Southeast Asia, I did research on borders, diaspora and ethnic identity issues in the deep south of Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. In Bhutan, together with a team of leading Thai anthropologists, I served as an ethno-photographer and photography trainer for researchers at the Institute of Language and Cultural Studies. My last position at SAC was as project director for research on Conflict and Multiculturalism in Thailand.

At the present time, I am Ethnographic Photographer, Columnist, Project Director and developing a topic for applying to a doctoral program. My proposed topic will explore senses, visual-scape and religion-scape among the deadly conflict and violence context at Deep South borderland, Thailand -Malaysia.

Work Experience

2001 – 2002

Independent Journalist

2003 – 2004

Coordinator of Alternative Media project (supported by Heinrich Boll Foundation)

2004 – 2007

Teaching Assistant in Anthropology and Multidisciplinary in Social Science, Thammasat University

Independent Researcher and Photographer

2007 – 2010

Researcher, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhon Anthropology Center of Thailand(SAC)

Ethno-Photographer in Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop in Bhutan Project (a collaborative project between SAC and the Institute of Language and Cultural Studies(ILCS), Royal University of Bhutan

2010 – 2013

Project Director, Conflict and Multiculturalism Group Research Project, SAC

Exhibition Curator on Title “ Tea, Tea-horse Road and Pilgrims in Bhutan,”SAC

Exhibition Curator on Title “Makyong: The Cultural Performance and Intangible Heritage across Thailand’s Deep South and Northern Malaysia border,” SAC.

Lecturer in Ethnic Studies Program, International College of Mekong Region, Chiangrai Rajabhat University, Thailand

2013

Ethnographic Photographer and Filmmaker

Columnist

Special Instructor in Conflict, Multiculturalism, Violence and Sensory Anthropology in University (Thammasat U. and Chiang Mai U.)

Editor, Newsletter of Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhron Anthropology Center (SAC), Thailand.

2014-2015

Ethnographic Photographer and Filmmaker

Editor, Journal of Social science, Chiang Mai University. on the special issue “the question of Social” and “Movement” in Thailand

Editor, Journal of Thammasat University, Thammasat University. on the special issue “Islam and Muslim in Southeast Asia”