{"id":6756,"date":"2026-09-09T17:09:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T15:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/?page_id=6756"},"modified":"2026-09-13T18:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T16:02:20","slug":"sam-in-thailand","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/?page_id=6756","title":{"rendered":"Sam in Thailand"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"6756\" class=\"elementor elementor-6756\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-a22d92c elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"a22d92c\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-ffa0118\" data-id=\"ffa0118\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3c2f4d9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"3c2f4d9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Sam in Thailand<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-396eb0f7 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"396eb0f7\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-776ebd7d\" data-id=\"776ebd7d\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-59257db elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"59257db\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<p>My project, Patriarchal Confinement, explores how displaced women from Myanmar experience and navigate patriarchal violence across Thailand\u2019s refugee camps, migrant-worker settlements and prisons.<\/p>\n\n<p>The first round of fieldwork took place in late 2025 and early 2026 across multiple locations in Thailand. Alongside my Research Assistant, Htu Sam (Mahidol University), we interviewed 28 people from 12 organisations supporting displaced women from Myanmar in Thailand. We discussed women\u2019s lives before leaving Myanmar, their journeys to Thailand, and what happened after arriving.<\/p>\n\n<p>Patriarchal violence followed women across these spaces, confining their lives. Silence and endurance became means of survival. \u00a0Two examples brought this into particularly sharp focus. In migrant workers\u2019 settlements, women would not even \u201cscream or call for assistance when they [were] being beaten by their intimate partners,\u201d and in refugee camps, women remained \u201csilent\u201d about rape until \u201cthe physical harms caused required medical treatment.\u201d Speaking out often carried costs women could not afford (e.g., loss of housing, employment, legal status and deportation). Participants also imagined a life beyond:<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>\u201cIn my perfect world, no one has to worry about gender-based violence. Women can go to the market, and they can live freely mentally, spiritually, just be themselves. Women don&#8217;t have to learn to be quiet. I want to see a world where women don&#8217;t have to migrate because of men\u2019s violence. Maybe there would be no borders at all, and no term \u2018migrant women\u2019, just people, and land, and freedom of movement.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>In July and August 2026, I returned to Thailand, this time to interview 19 women from Myanmar who were in prison. Htu Sam and I spoke with them about life before and after their arrival in Thailand, pathways into prison, experiences of imprisonment, and hopes for the future. They described the particular pains of imprisonment while Myanmar was in the midst of civil war: cut off from the outside world, deeply worried about their families, and fearful of what would happen upon their release and deportation.<\/p>\n\n<p>Two women, in particular, gave striking expression to what CONFINED is about. When we asked one woman what she hoped for in the future, she said there was \u201cno hope\u201d because she had \u201cnever been free.\u201d Her words captured, with extraordinary clarity, the stuckness that defined her life. Another woman showed how patriarchal violence can make prison feel like freedom. After years of intimate partner abuse, she said that entering prison felt as though the \u201cchains around [her] wrists and ankles had disappeared\u201d, and that this made her \u201csmile\u201d for the first time in a long time. \u00a0<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-374b34a elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"374b34a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Women-Prison-1-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-6761\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Women-Prison-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Women-Prison-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Women-Prison-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Women-Prison-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Women-Prison-1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a282aaf elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"a282aaf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">'Women in Prison' taken by Samantha Jeffries\u200b<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sam in Thailand My project, Patriarchal Confinement, explores how displaced women from Myanmar experience and navigate patriarchal violence across Thailand\u2019s refugee camps, migrant-worker settlements and prisons. The first round of fieldwork took place in late 2025 and early 2026 across multiple locations in Thailand. Alongside my Research Assistant, Htu Sam (Mahidol University), we interviewed 28 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6756","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6756"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6764,"href":"https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6756\/revisions\/6764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/confined-erc.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}