Remittances of Thai female married migrants have been one of the recognized conflicts among Thai-German spouses for a long time. However, the issue of remittance has only been partially debated and clarified as the economic support of Thai wives towards their natal family in Thailand. This book analyzes the determinants that influence Thai migrant wives to send remittances to their natal families and investigates the impact of remitting on both their marital and origin family relationships. The study acquired primary data from the eight key informants by a case study research approach, and supportive information from secondary informants who were personally related to the key informants. Data collection methods included interviews (in-depth and focus-groups) and observations (non-participant and participant). The findings revealed that the financial aspect is the least significant reason for sending remittances among Thai wives in Germany. The remittance practice appears to be an adoption of the cultural gratitude belief deeply rooted in Thai wives’ mentality. Thai women reported having remitted to their parents before they married and maintaining this practice as a particular way to perform their decent child’s duty towards parents while living abroad. Remitting also carried a symbolic meaning of love and care underpinned by the concept of a gratitude culture.

The dramatic contribution of grassroots organizations to effecting social change is brought into vivid detail in this unique perspective on women from around the globe. Each contributor has been instrumental in grassroots processes of media production or has worked within the community communication field and discusses concrete action within a theoretical framework. These diverse accounts of women, participation and communication take place in a variety of geographical, social and cultural settings and provide rich material for comparative analysis.

This book provides one of the most comprehensive researches on Thai marriage migrants in Germany to date. It investigates the employment dilemma of Thai marriage migrants after implementation of the new Residence Act of 2005 in Germany. Also it sheds light on the underlying problems that hinder Thai marriage migrants’ potential as full-time labourers, examines the Thai diaspora and explores the present-day trans-nationalism of Thai marriage migrants in Germany. Most importantly, it applies Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical concept of capital, habitus and social space to better understand Thai marriage migrants’ career choices in the German milieu.

Nonwhite and white, rich and poor, born to an unwed mother or weathering divorce, over half of all children in the current generation will live in a single-parent family--and these children simply will not fare as well as their peers who live with both parents. This is the clear and urgent message of this powerful book. Based on four national surveys and drawing on more than a decade of research, Growing Up with a Single Parent sharply demonstrates the connection between family structure and a child's prospects for success. What are the chances that the child of a single parent will graduate from high school, go on to college, find and keep a job? Will she become a teenage mother? Will he be out of school and out of work? These are the questions the authors pursue across the spectrum of race, gender, and class. Children whose parents live apart, the authors find, are twice as likely to drop out of high school as those in two-parent families, one and a half times as likely to be idle in young adulthood, twice as likely to become single parents themselves. This study shows how divorce--particularly an attendant drop in income, parental involvement, and access to community resources--diminishes children's chances for well-being. The authors provide answers to other practical questions that many single parents may ask: Does the gender of the child or the custodial parent affect these outcomes? Does having a stepparent, a grandmother, or a nonmarital partner in the household help or hurt? Do children who stay in the same community after divorce fare better? Their data reveal that some of the advantages often associated with being white are really a function of family structure, and that some of the advantages associated with having educated parents evaporate when those parents separate. In a concluding chapter, McLanahan and Sandefur offer clear recommendations for rethinking our current policies. Single parents are here to stay, and their worsening situation is tearing at the fabric of our society. It is imperative, the authors show, that we shift more of the costs of raising children from mothers to fathers and from parents to society at large. Likewise, we must develop universal assistance programs that benefit low-income two-parent families as well as single mothers. Startling in its findings and trenchant in its analysis, Growing Up with a Single Parent will serve to inform both the personal decisions and governmental policies that affect our children's--and our nation's--future.

This volume makes an important and unique contribution to scholarly understandings of migration and diversity through its focus on Asian contexts. Current scholarship and literature on processes of migration and the consequences of diversity is heavily concentrated on Western contexts and their concerns with "e;multiculturalism"e;, "e;integration"e;, "e;rights and responsibilities"e;, "e;social cohesion"e;, "e;social inclusion"e;, and "e;cosmopolitanism"e;. In contrast, there has been relatively little attention given to migration and growing diversity in Asian contexts which are constituted by highly distinct and varied histories, cultures, geographies, and political economies. This book fills this significant gap in the literature on migration studies with a concentrated focus on communities, cities and countries in the Asian region that are experiencing increased levels of population mobility and subsequent diversity. Not only does it offer analyses of the policies and processes of migration, it also addresses the outcomes and implications of migration and diversity - these include a focus on multiculturalism and citizenship in the Asian region, the emerging complex forms of governance in response to increased diversity, discussions of different settlement experiences, and the practices of everyday life and encounters in increasingly diverse locales.

In 2008 I was new to Thailand and new to the amazingly wonderful world of teaching English as a second language. It was bewildering, invigorating, and life changing. No days passed that I didnt marvel at the interaction with students and teachers. At the end of two years in Thai public education I was both exhausted and exhilarated with the experience. At that time my sense of personal history persuaded me to tell this story. I hope it is one that you will enjoy. Larry Welch ---------- What People Are Saying Larry writes with humor, honesty and incredible detail. His book is full of descriptions that in some cases whet your appetite to visit the places Larry is describing. Cheryl Keane, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia Sprinkled with humor and lightness along the way Larry touches the heart of readers with his enlightening experiences. Highly recommended! Marcia Bolog, Milan, Michigan, USA This is an important book for those interested in Thailand or secondary education in a foreign country. April Zhang, Professor, Daejeon University, Daejeon, South Korea

Millions of Burmese women migrate into Thailand each year to form the basis of the Thai agricultural and manufacturing workforce. Un-documented and unregulated, this army of migrant workers constitutes the ultimate 'disposable' labour force, enduring gruelling working conditions and much aggression from the Thai police and immigration authorities. This insightful book ventures into a part of the global economy rarely witnessed by Western observers. Based on unique empirical research, it provides the reader with a gendered account of the role of women migrant workers in Thailand's factories and interrogates the ways in which they manage their families and their futures.

This book introduces readers to modern Thai literature through the themes of modernity, nationalism, identity and gender. In the cultural, political and social transformations that occurred in Thailand during the first half of the twentieth century, Thai literature was one of the vehicles that moved the changes. Taking seriously ‘read till it shatters’, a Thai phrase that instructs readers to take apart the text, to break it down, to deconstruct it, Thak Chaloemtiarana challenges the Thai literary canon from the margins and suggests ways of expanding and enriching it. Thai literature is scarce in translation and requires the skills of a scholar fluent in Thai to comprehend it. Thak is a political scientist turned literary scholar who is bilingual in Thai and English and an avid reader of Thai fiction by authors up and down the social scale. Here he offers lively insights into his favourite literary genres with fresh readings of early Thai novels, Sino-Thai biographies and memoirs of the rich and famous. ‘Thak Chaloemtiarana is an inquisitive man. Late in his career he switched from politics to literature. In these chapters, he draws on a lifetime of reading about writers and writing in Thailand over the past century. He nods towards the usual big names—King Vajiravudh, Luang Wichit, Kulap Saipradit, Kukrit Pramoj—but spends more time on those found in the lesser visited stacks of the libraries, the secondhand bookstalls, and the shelf by the supermarket checkout. His themes are familiar—Thailand and the West, Thai nationalism, the Thai-Chinese, and women under patriarchy—but the angles of vision are original. With a cast ranging from motor-racing princes through sexy Egyptian mummies and a feminist serial murderer to starlets touting breast-enhancement techniques, this book educates, enlightens, and entertains.’

--A completely updated one-volume edition of the 4-volume International Encyclopedia of Sexuality--Includes nearly 60 countries and places--12 not previously covered--by more than 200 authorities--It is the only reference work of its kind in any language