Labor Migration and Queer Sexuality Exploration: A Narrative Inquiry of Filipino Queer Teachers in Thailand

• Main Authors: Ulla, Mark, Pernia, Elena E.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2023
• Subjects: LangFilipino gay men; queer teachers; queer; labor migration; sexuality explorationerian mindfulness; learned helplessness; depression; undergraduates
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/apssr/vol23/iss2/5; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/apssr/article/1496/viewcontent/RA_204.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

Labor migration has always been considered a product of globalization, where people’s mobility can be explained through the push and pull theory. However, there have been limited studies investigating how migration becomes a crucial factor among queer labor migrants in exploring and understanding their sexuality, especially from the Global South-South perspective. This study attempts to delineate queer sexuality in largely heteronormative discourses on Filipino labor migration from the perspectives of two Filipino queer teachers using narrative inquiry as an approach and online, semi-structured individual interviews as tools to gather the qualitative data. Findings revealed that besides the economic motive for their labor migration, the desire to explore and understand themselves as gay men motivated two Filipino teachers to work in Bangkok, Thailand. Having the capital skill allowed them to participate and engage in various queer discourses and practices within Bangkok’s gay community. The findings imply that in the intersection of queer and labor migration, economy and sexuality are essential in understanding queer labor migration, especially within the Global South-South context.