In this presentation, we will compare and examine livelihood transformation in the migration and settled process of specific ethnic groups, including their relationship to surrounding ethnic groups. An example is the Hmong people living in the mountainous areas of the monsoon forest in northern Thailand, and the historical dynamics of their livelihoods since the 20th century will be considered, especially from the perspective of the use of natural resources. In addition to ethnic minorities such as the Hmong, who have engaged in slash-and-burn rice farming in the mountains, the target area has been inhabited by diverse ethnic groups with different livelihoods such as the Mlabri, who have engaged in hunting and gathering, and the Thai, who have engaged in paddy rice farming in the surrounding lowlands. While these ethnic groups are interrelated, they have been strongly influenced by state policies and other factors to transform their livelihoods. In this presentation, we consider the anthropological theory of livelihood transformation by examining the cases of Thailand in comparison, with special reference to the process of sedentarization and its livelihood transformation.
