Citation Horstmann, A. (2011). Sacred Spaces of Karen Refugees and Humanitarian Aid Across the Thailand-Burma Border. ASEAS – Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 4(2), 254-272.

In this article, I demonstrate that the Karen National Union (KNU) was able to manipulate and po-liticise humanitarian aid in the Thailand-Burma borderland. I contend that in the context of the civil war in eastern Burma, Protestant Christianity provides a crucial vehicle for political mobilisation. The article shows that refugee camps in the Thai borderland become centres of proselytisation, and that Protestant evangelical and missionary networks open up passages across the Thai-Burmese bor-der. The article thus considers a case where a homeland is constructed in the liminal space between two nations. Illegal emergency aid that doubles as missionary project reinforces the image of a help-less victim being vandalized by evil Burmese army