Digital Ethnography and the Public Visibility of Rice-Merit Networks in Karen Catholic Communities, Northern Thailand

This qualitative study assesses how digital media practices of Rice-Merit Networks (RMN) in Karen Catholic communities in northern Thailand shape public visibility and communal participation, and examines core religio-cultural elements of the RMNs. To promote mutual aid, sharing, and solidarity grounded in cultural and religious values, the RMNs were formally formed in 2002 across 383 villages in the northern Thai provinces, which now extend to more than 700 villages. The study employed a digital ethnographic approach supported by semi-structured interviews with organic intellectuals (OIs), Karen academics, RMN coordinators, and selected parish priests. With explicit opt-in consent, excerpts from Facebook pages, YouTube channels, websites of the Chiang Mai diocese, and the Research and Training Center for Religio-Cultural Communities (RTRC), and opt-in RMN LINE groups were analysed as data sources. Research identified four core elements that emerged: ecological safeguarding, role of OIs as digital storytellers, community food security, and Karen religio-cultural identities. Media analysis showed that rice-merit ceremonies, together with media accounting, contributed to a broader digital-religion dynamic in which local religio-cultural practices are reconfigured through ethnic co-existence; images and narrative circulation strengthen communal belonging; and OIs' digital practices enhance public visibility and participation. Digital traces reveal that in 2025, the network documented 67,404 kg of rice, THB 1,086,530 in donations, and 5,007 participants across four zones. The study also identifies practical challenges pointing to future research, including food security, welfare, climate change, natural disasters, and youth participation.