Dr. Piya Pangsapa is a sociologist who was on the faculty at the Global Gender Studies department at the University at Buffalo SUNY and was head of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies before joining the School of Global Studies. Dr. Piya has published widely on migrant workers, civil society and NGO activism, and labor rights in Southeast Asia, and is the author of Textures of Struggle. She has worked as a freelance copywriter, writer, and editor (the World Wildlife Fund and Michelin Guide).
Expertise:
Gender and development studies; women and work; comparative social and economic development; qualitative and ethnographic research methods; migration; gender and sustainability; social movements; labor standards; human rights; metaverse technology in education.
Undergraduate:
TU 108 Self-Development and Management
GS 240 Gender Equality in a Global Context
GS 284 Designing for Science
GS 281 Technology, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
GS 200 Questioning Minds: Applied Critical Thinking
GS 270 Power, Strategy & Social Change
GS 490 GS 491 Senior Project Thesis Track
GSSE Summer Pre-Program Gender from a Development Perspective 2023, 2024
UC Summer Program Orientation 2023, 2024 Thailand Economic Development Overview
GSSE Globalization and Gender & Development Modules, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024 Summer Pre-Program
SPD 208 Gender & Social Diversity (guest lecturer, SPD Program @TU)
SPD 307 Theories of Social Policy & Development (session on development theory, SPD Program @TU)
Graduate:
GS 742 Seminar on Sustainability Practices Section on Prospectus Development
GS 871 Prospectus Development
GS 761 Contemporary Sustainability Issues (Section on Gender and Sustainability)
GS 621 Grounded Immersion (Module 3 on Academic Writing)
MA Program Graduate Writing Seminar
MA Ph.D. Academic Writing Skills
TU 108 Self-Development and Management
GS 240 Gender Equality in a Global Context
GS 284 Designing for Science
GS 281 Technology, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
GS 200 Questioning Minds: Applied Critical Thinking
GS 270 Power, Strategy & Social Change
GS 490 GS 491 Senior Project Thesis Track
GSSE Summer Pre-Program Gender from a Development Perspective 2023, 2024
UC Summer Program Orientation 2023, 2024 Thailand Economic Development Overview
GSSE Globalization and Gender & Development Modules, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024 Summer Pre-Program
SPD 208 Gender & Social Diversity (guest lecturer, SPD Program @TU)
SPD 307 Theories of Social Policy & Development (session on development theory, SPD Program @TU)
Graduate:
GS 742 Seminar on Sustainability Practices Section on Prospectus Development
GS 871 Prospectus Development
GS 761 Contemporary Sustainability Issues (Section on Gender and Sustainability)
GS 621 Grounded Immersion (Module 3 on Academic Writing)
MA Program Graduate Writing Seminar
MA Ph.D. Academic Writing Skills
Pangsapa, P. (2007). Textures of Struggle: The Emergence of Resistance among Garment Workers in Thailand. Ithaca and London: ILR Press, Cornell University Press. Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8014-7376-0; Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-8014-4591-0.
Pangsapa, P. (2027). Nonprofit discrimination and migrant workers in Thailand. In I. de Bruin Cardoso & A. S. Ruiz (Eds.), The Paradox of Nonprofit Discrimination: Global Reflections on the Dynamics of Exclusion and Inclusion. Springer Nature Publishing.
Pangsapa, P. (2027). Building sustainable communities in Thailand: CODI’s model of people-driven development. In E. Bloodgood, D. K. C., A. Domaradzka, E. Kumi, P. M. E. Mendonça, & C. L. Pallas (Eds.), Going Local: A Comparative Study of the Historical Evolution of Local Civil Society Organizations. Georgetown University Press.
Pangsapa, P. (2024). Social distancing? “No problem!”: Explaining Thailand’s successful containment of COVID-19. In Reconfiguring Global Societies in the Pre-Vaccination Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic. University of Toronto Press.
Liu, S., & Pangsapa, P. (2025). Island community-based tourism and gendered power: How respectability and paperwork organize women’s everyday authority in Phuket, Thailand. Tourism and Hospitality, 6(5), 281. https://doi.org/10.3390/tourhosp6050281
Wong, P. P. Y., Wong, G., Pangsapa, P., & Shen, D. (2024). SI XR Virtual to Reality: Understanding the role of metaverse as a pedagogical strategy. Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 22(3), Special Issue: Extended Realities (XR) for Learning.
Pangsapa, P. (2022). Vaccine policy failure: Explaining Thailand’s unsuccessful containment of COVID-19 in the third wave. Asian Journal of Law and Society, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1017/als.2022.17
Pangsapa, P. (2022). Capacity of Thai fortune tellers to engage in mental health counseling. Journal of Mental Health of Thailand, 30(3), 184–198.
Pangsapa, P. (2022). Review of Sovereign Necropolis: The Politics of Death in Semi-Colonial Siam by Trais Pearson. Asian Journal of Law and Society, 9, 168–175. https://doi.org/10.1017/als.2021.39
Wong, P. P. Y., Wong, G. W. C., Pangsapa, P., Techanamurthy, U., Wan Mohamad, W. S., Chew, S. Y., & Shen, D. J. (2023). Exploring the impact of pedagogy and group dynamics in metaverse learning. In M. Chang, C. K. Looi, G. Biswas, & J. N. Erni (Eds.), Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Metaverse and Artificial Companions in Education and Society (MetaACES 2023) (pp. 28–38). The Education University of Hong Kong.
Pangsapa, P., Wong, P. P. Y., Wong, G. W. C., Techanamurthy, U., Wan Mohamad, W. S., & Shen, D. (2023). Enhancing humanities learning with metaverse technology: A study on student engagement and performance. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Information and Education Technology (ICIET 2023) (pp. 251–255). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICIET56899.2023.10111125
Nah, F., Shen, D., Wong, P., Wang, R., Techanamurthy, U., Tong, E., Geng, H., Pangsapa, P., & Chew, S. (2022). Enhancing literacy education with narrative richness in the metaverse. In Proceedings of the 21st Annual Pre-ICIS Workshop on HCI Research in MIS. Copenhagen, Denmark.
Pangsapa, P. (Ed. & Contributing Writer). (2021). Journey of Sustainable Consumption and Production: A Localized Approach Establishing Low-Carbon Sustainable Consumption and Production in the Food System, Thailand. WWF-Thailand, German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), and International Climate Initiative (IKI). ISBN 978-616-93813-0-3.
Pangsapa, P. (2024). Endorsement blurb for Capitalist Colonial: Thai Migrant Workers in Israel Agriculture by Matan Kaminer. Stanford University Press.
amazon.com/author/piyapangsapa
researchgate.net/profile/piya_pangsapa
2002 Cheryl Allyn Miller Award, Honourable Mention for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Women and Work, Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS), American Sociological Association
2022 Metaverse Learning in Education for Sustainability, SGS Research and Publication Fund
2003 Women’s Studies Departmental Merit Award for Service, Department of Women’s Studies, University at Buffalo
Program
University
Year
PH.D. IN SOCIOLOGY
HARPUR COLLEGE OF OF ARTS & SCIENCES, BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY, STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
2001
M.A IN SOCIOLOGY
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES, BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY, WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS
1994
B.A IN SOCIOLOGY
COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY, STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
1992