Rural–urban migration and ethnic minority enterprise

Abstract

Over the last years, an increasing number of Thailand's ethnic highland minorities has moved to urban and tourist areas to enter self-employment. While most urban-based minorities remain invisible for visitors and other outsiders, eye-catching female Akha handicraft and souvenir sellers became part of an informal sector that is linked to the global tourism economy. This chapter illustrates the evolvement of urban Akha souvenir businesses over time and space and explores the embeddedness of female Akha entrepreneurs in social networks and in wider economic and political-institutional structures as well as the resulting chances and challenges. This chapter also explores the strategies Akha migrants employ to become successful entrepreneurs by showing how they transform cultural and social resources into economic capital.