Suspect, Detainee, or Victim? A Discourse Analytical Study of Men’s Vulnerability in Thailand’s Deep South

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis was to explore discourses of insecurity, vulnerability and conflict in Thailand’s Deep South. In order to understand how such discourses are shaped by gender ideologies, the study examines how ideas about men and women are articulated, reproduced and challenged in Thai civil society. Special attention is given to the ways in which men and masculinity are constructed within the discourse, and the concept of hegemonic masculinity is used to explain the findings. Data was retrieved through semi-structured interviews with NGO practitioners in Bangkok and analyzed using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis. The analysis showed that gender ideologies played an important role in shaping NGO discourses of insecurity and vulnerability. While challenging certain traditional ideas about men and women, the discourse also reproduced men as legitimate targets of violence and failed to see men’s vulnerability as gendered. By ‘ungendering’ male experience, and constructing women as ideal civil society activists, the discourse was also found to exclude men from practical interventions and capacity building in the Deep South.