About me

Jiraporn Laocharoenwong จิราพร เหล่าเจริญวงศ์

Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Chulalongkorn University

I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Anthropology, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. I obtained my PhD in Anthropology from the University of Amsterdam in 2020 with a thesis titled “Re-imagining the refugee camp: Sovereignty and Time-Space formation along the Thailand-Burma borderland.”

My PhD research took Mae La camp, the biggest and oldest refugee camp in Thailand as a case study. It addressed questions of time and temporality that relate to this refuge space: what is the nature of a long-term camp and how can it exist for such a long period of time? How do spatial and temporal processes and events transform the organization of the camp and how do these affect refugees’ daily lives?

During my ethnographic research across Myanmar-Thailand border, I observe that not only humans cross the border, but animals, plants, pathogens and commodities as well. My research then shifted from human mobility to non-human animal mobility across borders in the Southeast Asia Borderland (Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China). I focus on (and map) mobility of livestock (cattle, goat and pigs) as ‘live commodities’ in these regional supply chains. This also touches on health border, pathogens and human-animal relations in the animals’ long journeys as well as extended periods in quarantine and fattening station. The research received fund (2022-2024) by Thailand National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO).

My ongoing research explores the relations between animal feed production (plantation of corns, canes and cassava) in both sides of Thailand-Myanmar border and the ongoing political conflicts in Myanmar.

Expertise

Education