I am a linguistic and sociocultural anthropologist with interests in childhood and youth, transnational migration, state and bureaucracy, language politics, and education. My geographical expertise centers on Thailand, Burma, and mobility in and out of Southeast Asia. I earned a B.A. in Humanities from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, an M.A. in Asian Studies at Cornell University, and a PhD in Anthropology at University of Chicago. 

My ethnographic research explores practices and perception of migrant childhood in Thailand, with emphasis on language classrooms. Children of Burmese workers, regardless of their birthplace, is not recognized as citizens by the Thai state, and formal schooling is their only pathway to legal and cultural citizenship. To study the complex relationship between migration, education, and citizenship, the project brings childhood studies into dialogue with migration scholarship. It explores how culturally specific ideas of childhood are intertwined with other sociocultural factors, including language, age, ethnic identity, and bureaucratic status. My work analyzes how such intertwining contributes to the shaping of liminal subjectivity. My ethnographic case demonstrates how the conditions of liminality do not simply contribute to the children’s status as neither “citizens” nor “aliens.” Liminality can also refer to the ambiguity of their age identity.

Before joining the Department of Anthropology at the University of Iowa, I had taught university-level courses in various academic cultures, both in the United States and Thailand.  I teach introductory courses which helps students engage closely and critically with key concepts and theories in cultural and linguistic anthropology. I have also developed several courses based on my research experiences. As an instructor, my primary mission is to promote welcoming learning environments and to challenge my students’ assumptions about the world—whether their own immediate surroundings or unfamiliar lived experiences.

Courses Taught

• ANTH:1101 Cultural Anthropology
• ANTH:2100 - Anthropology and Contemporary World Problems
• ANTH:2151 Global Migration in the Contemporary World