“I intend to shed critical light onto the often overlooked experiences of women agroindustry workers and the key roles these women play in fostering and undermining intercommunal relations in southern Thailand.”

Chantal Croteau, a PhD candidate in anthropology at U-M, has devoted her academic career to researching communities in southern Thailand. Prior to entering her PhD program, Chantal developed a deep knowledge of the region as a Princeton in Asia teaching fellow and a master’s student in Southeast Asian Studies at Cornell University. Her master’s thesis focused on the impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on rural southern Thailand and the ways in which those communities commemorate the catastrophe. Growing up in rural New Hampshire, Chantal’s personal background sensitized her to the significance of understanding the experiences of those living in rural areas and disseminating that knowledge through public scholarship. 

In the project supported by this fellowship, Chantal aims to address a gap in the existing anthropological scholarship by exploring the lived experiences of women of various faiths and ethnicities in rural southern Thailand. This region is unique as it incorporates a significant Muslim population in a predominantly Buddhist country, and its intercommunal relations are shaped by the rubber and palm oil plantations that structure its economy. Chantal plans to travel to southern Thailand during the summer to join women workers on these plantations, enabling her to gain insight into their lives and experiences. Chantal writes, “I intend to shed critical light onto the often overlooked experiences of women agroindustry workers and the key roles these women play in fostering and undermining intercommunal relations in southern Thailand.”

Once her research is completed, Chantal intends to share her findings to both academic and public audiences. She believes in the power of public scholarship and aims to disseminate her research through various genres of writing, including narrative and poetry. Through these diverse mediums, Chantal hopes to generate greater awareness about the experiences of women in southern Thailand. 

CEW+ commends Chantal’s woman-centered research and names her a Menakka and Essel Bailey Graduate Fellow.