The article analyses the processes of the social construction of categories and designations for migrants. It focuses in particular on Burmese refugees in Thailand. Categories and designations with which refugees are described are treated as products of a political process that takes place in a social arena influenced by wider international factors. The author suggests that the Geneva Convention, supported by the UNHCR as a political actor in the arena, can be regarded as a travelling theory which may change its original meaning during the process of translation to Thailand.

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