Stuck in transit: asylum-seeking habitus and onward migration aspirations of Sri Lankan Tamil asylum-seekers in Bangkok

ABSTRACT

Asylum-seekers nowadays undertake multiple journeys before reaching a country of resettlement. In Southeast Asia, several countries are playing important roles as transit locations. This paper focuses on Thailand, which serves as a major transit point for Sri Lankan Tamil asylum-seekers who hope to move to resettlement countries through irregular channels. Drawing on in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations from 2018 to 2019, this paper examines the Sri Lankan Tamil asylum-seekers’ migration experiences in Bangkok, and how they plan their onward migration and utilise connection networks. Moving beyond traditional pull-push approach that standardises reasons to flee, this research uses asylum-seeking habitus as a conceptual lens to explore the interactive process between structure (economic and cultural) and asylum-seekers, and individual/communal interpretations of such structural environment that trigger onward migration aspirations of asylum-seekers in a transit country. In Bangkok, because lived experiences do not meet personal and/or familial expectations, insecurity prevails following news from others in their networks, which then triggers onward migratory disposition among Sri Lankan Tamil asylum-seekers. Asylum-seeking habitus as a conceptual lens provides a useful approach in assisting us in understanding asylum-seekers’ vision of autonomy by investigating their changing perceptions of security at different stages of the journey.

KEYWORDS:

• Asylum-seeking habitus
• Bangkok
• onward migration
• Sri Lankan Tamils
• transit

Acknowledgements

The author is thankful to the contributions of all research participants in this project. Special thanks go to the anonymous reviewers of this article and journal editor for their scholarly comments and suggestions. The author also thanks David Tai for his research assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Terence Chun Tat Shum

Terence Chun Tat Shum is Research Assistant Professor in the School of Arts and Social Sciences and Research Fellow in Public and Social Policy Research Centre at The Open University of Hong Kong, China. His areas of research cover international migration and refugee studies, culture and identity, and multiculturalism and globalisation.