The Social Justice Internship in Thailand Program is a component of the Henry Luce Foundation-funded “Social Justice in Southeast Asia Project,” and is intended to allow undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to participate in social justice-oriented internships in Thailand for one year each. Interns will be placed with the bilingual (Thai and English) social justice-oriented media outlets Prachatai and Isaan Record.
To be eligible for an internship, a student must have completed (or have equivalent proficiency in) one year of Thai language studies. The University of Wisconsin-Madison teaches Thai language during the academic year, and during the summer via SEASSI.
Eight internships are expected to be awarded over the course of the project, two each (one with Isaan Record and one with Prachatai) for the 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years. The duties of interns will include conducting research and fact-checking, writing and editing articles, video editing, and variously supporting the work of other Thai journalists. The position at Prachatai will be based in Bangkok, and the position with Isaan Record will be based in Khon Kaen. Modest funding will be provided for each intern ($10,500 per intern) to support the costs of airfare, medical insurance, accommodation and food when in Thailand. Students can opt to receive University of Wisconsin-Madison academic credits when in Thailand, as negotiated based on work done, but will be responsible for their own tuition costs. David Streckfuss, who completed his PhD in History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has considerable expertise in running internship and study abroad programs in Thailand, will provide support to the interns when they are in Thailand. Dr. Streckfuss also runs Isaan Record and collaborates closely with Prachatai.