Patterns and impetuses of labor migration is considered circular and recurrent in various parts of the world, and is often perceived in terms of cost and benefit. This qualitative paper explores the caring for families and children left behind, particularly in the Philippines, through an examination of the opinion, ideas, and experiences of female Filipino overseas workers (OFWs) in Poland. Ongoing researches have shown that although remittances are significantly beneficial to families, the negative implications on child and family welfare should be equally weighed in assessing the benefits of labor migration. While the Philippines has established support for women OFWs, their families, and their children, there is still a need for further understanding of the sociocultural and political factors that affect social action on this matter. Hopefully, there will be more in-depth research on this subject to identify gaps in government policies and services as well as develop more appropriate micro, meso, and macro-level interventions that utilize bilateral or multilateral cooperation among various local and international social work organizations.

This study aims to investigate the complicated negotiation of identities of Thai female migrants in Hong Kong using perspectives on identity, gender, and religion, through an intersectional approach. Based on an ethnographic study of Thai migrants in Hong Kong, the study shows that Buddhism has not only become a symbol of the Thai people in articulating their identity and “Thainess,” but has also established connections between Thai migrants in Hong Kong and Thailand. The female migrants’ experiences of autonomy and freedom in Hong Kong, however, empower them to question the very definition of “woman” in Buddhism and challenge gender inequality. In the context of the realities in Hong Kong, these migrants negotiate gender role expectations and reinvent their sense of womanhood. In this regard, this study also aims to enrich the understanding of the dynamic nature of identity negotiation and illustrate the influence of cultures on female migrants’ contemporary meaning making.

In the history of Myanmar, Buddha himself took care of and gave protection to the elderly citizens. After Lord Buddha passed away, King Ashoka and subsequent kings from the Nyaungyan period (1528–1648), until the end of Konbaung period (1752–1885), also took care of these citizens. After the whole country had fallen under British colonial rule, French Christian missionaries established a kantawkalay (Home for the aged poor) to spread Christianity and shelter the elderly. When this came to the attention of the wealthy and spiritual
Daw Oo Zun, she initiated the establishment of five Buddhist homes for the aged in Myanmar during the colonial period.

This paper studies the history of caring for the elderly citizens in Myanmar and the patriotism and courage of Daw Oo Zun in tending to their needs after independence. In analyzing the culture of caring for the elderly and in investigating the history of Buddhist homes for the aged this study reveals that caring for them is believed to be a meritorious deed that remains in the religious value system of contemporary Myanmar.

Maria Serena I. Diokno is Professor of History at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Professor Diokno is a co-founder of the SEASREP Foundation. Her interests span the colonial period of Southeast Asia, about which she has published. Among her publications are "Corruption and the Moral Imperative, through the Lens of Rizal" (2011), "Expeditions of Knowledge: Supporting Southeast Asian Studies in the Region" (2010), and "Southeast Asia: Imperial Possession and Dispossession in the Long Twentieth Century" (2006).

Ma. Mercedes G. Planta is Associate Professor of History at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Her research and publications are in the fields of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (STM) and Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies in colonial Southeast Asia, particularly Spanish and American Philippines. Her current research examines the development of modern medicine in Dutch Indonesia, British Malaya, and American Philippines. She is the author of Traditional Medicine in the Colonial Philippines, 16th to the 19th Century (University of the Philippines Press 2017).

Maitrii Aung-Thwin is an area-studies specialist of Southeast Asia, with particular expertise in Myanmar history, politics, and society. His research engages conversations from the fields of postcolonial studies, socio-legal studies, intellectual history, public history, and transnational studies. His publications include: A History of Myanmar since Ancient Times: Traditions and Transformations (2013), The Return of the Galon King: History, Law, and Rebellion in Colonial Burma (2011), and A New History of Southeast Asia (2010). He is currently Associate Professor of Myanmar/Southeast Asian history and Convenor of the Comparative Asian Studies PhD Program at the National University of Singapore.

Joseph M. Fernando is Associate Professor of History at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He obtained his PhD in History from Royal Holloway College, University of London. His areas of specialization are Malaysian political and constitutional history, British imperialism in Southeast Asia, and modern history of Southeast Asia. Dr. Fernando was a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University in 2004-2005. His publications include The Making of the Malayan Constitution (2002); The Alliance Road to Independence (2009); and "British and Commonwealth Legacies in the Framing of the Malayan Constitution, 1956-1957", Britain and the World, Vol. 8, No. 2, September 2015.

Rieyen D. Clemente is a graduate student of the Department of History, University of the Philippines Diliman. He is a member of the Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society for Social Sciences and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Patricia Anne Y. Asuncion is a BA Comparative Literature graduate from the University of the Philippines Diliman. She is currently pursuing her second degree (BA Linguistics) in the same university.

Jeanne Therese L. Maling is a graduate student at the University of the Philippines, Diliman (UPD).

Dr. Charnvit Kasetsiri, former Rector of Thammasat University, is secretary of the Foundation for the Promotion of Social Sciences and Humanities Textbooks Project in Thailand. He holds an MA in Diplomacy from Occidental College, Los Angeles, California, and a PhD in Southeast Asian History from Cornell University. He specializes in Thai history (Ayutthaya, Thai political history, and contemporary Thai politics) and history of Southeast Asia.

Dr. Taufik Abdullah is a retired Professor of History at the Gadjah Mada University. He was Chair of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). He also chaired the Indonesian Historical Society and was a Director of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research. He received his Doctorandus from Gadjah Mada University, and MA and PhD degrees from Cornell University. Dr. Taufik has worked on the political history of Indonesia and Islam.

Dr. Ruth McVey, Emeritus Reader in Southeast Asian Politics at the University of London, received her PhD in Government at Cornell University in 1961 and subsequently held research and teaching positions at Yale University, the Center for International Studies at MIT, Cornell University, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Her early work concentrated on the history of the Indonesian Communist movement and the general relationship between ideology and social change in Indonesia. Later, she studied social and ideological transformation in rural southern Thailand, and the rise of the Southeast Asian business-political elite.