From loneliness to connection in later life: insights from Thailand and Myanmar

This presentation explores how practices of everyday life shape experiences of loneliness and care among older Thai and Myanmar adults living along the northern Thailand–Myanmar border. 

Drawing on qualitative research and participatory action methods, it examines loneliness through the lens of social relationship expectations. According to the Social Relationship Expectations Framework, loneliness occurs when expectations for social relationships, including proximity, support, intimacy, fun, generativity, and respect, cannot be fulfilled. 

In the first paper presented, focus group discussions with older Thai residents and Myanmar migrants were conducted in rural Chiang Rai, showing how loneliness is felt most acutely in ordinary moments of stillness, particularly at night. 'Having nothing to do' contrasts with the moral and emotional sustenance found in daily activities, including rituals of care. Differences between Thai and Myanmar participants illuminate how structural barriers including migration, stigma, and financial insecurity reconfigure the possibilities for caregiving in later life. 

The second paper presents a participatory photovoice project developed with older Myanmar migrants as both a research method and a loneliness intervention. Centered on participants’ own images and narratives of care, nature, and religion, the project foregrounds creative and collective practices through which older migrants were given an active voice in their community. The co-curated exhibition What is Care? reveals how visual storytelling and public engagement can transform everyday practices into sources of recognition and ethically value the care older migrants provide every day.  

Registration

This event is free, open to the public, and held online only.

South East Asian Studies Seminar Series

This semester’s theme foregrounds how communities across Southeast Asia have sought to live, believe, and flourish through the practices of everyday life. From ritual and governance to kinship and sport, the seminars explore how ordinary practices are imagined and enacted across different times and places. 

The series brings historical and ethnographic perspectives into conversation to illuminate the ethical, political, and creative dimensions of daily life in the region.