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In multi-ethnic societies, different cultures interact with each other, and communities often have to consider acculturation strategies. These strategies are fluid and develop across geographical boundaries while intersecting with cultural diversity. A host society's stance toward migrants and governmental migration policies significantly influence these strategies. This dynamic is evident in the case for Cambodia's ethnic Cham youth, who are Muslims in a predominantly Buddhist Khmer society. Chamic ethnicities are found widely in South East Asia, including in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, so their transnational connections and experiences are worth investigating in detail. This article draws on discourses on acculturation orientation and expectation to delve into Cham youth's acculturation, particularly exploring the factors shaping their labour migration patterns. Based on fieldwork conducted in Cham villages in the Tbong Khmum Province of Cambodia, this research introduces a conceptual model highlighting ineffective enculturation and differential acculturation among Cham migrant workers. The findings enrich academic knowledge of acculturation orientation and expectation as well as labour migration patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labour migration is a dynamic process involving information gathering, motivation formation, and a series of actions of labour migration. This paper is an attempt to explain the process from a desire for the decision-making of potential migrant workers at the micro-level, including the input of labour brokers. Focus group and in-depth interviews were conducted in the Samut Sakhon City of Thailand. Myanmar migrant workers were interviewed. Thailand is a popular receiving country of unskilled migrant workers in Southeast Asia. Existing migration studies regarding intermediaries are less concerned with the micro-process of migrants' decision-making. The findings enrich the understanding of the labour migration decision-making process, motivation building and the facilitating and bridging roles of brokers. Sternberg's (2000) motivation building model has been incorporated into Spaan and Van Naerssen's (2018) threshold of decision-making. Key obstacles are identified during the realization process. A micro-level decision-making process model is constructed involving information gathering, desire creation, aspiration realization, and motivation formation which finally contributes to the action of labour migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thailand is a popular destination for irregular labor migration from Myanmar. Among some three million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand, more than half are undocumented. Undocumented migrant workers rely on brokers to smuggle them into Thailand. Some undocumented migrant workers are lured, tricked, and forced to work but they are not rewarded with a reasonable wage. A conceptual framework of the shadow sector of labor migration is formulated in this study, which attempts to explain why ethnic minorities in Myanmar are socially categorized by the level of their deprived citizenship. Those low in the hierarchy of categorization are likely to fall into the shadow sector of the labor migration process. Ethnic minorities from areas of insurgency are exposed to a high risk of human trafficking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]