Further Information about the Moken

Below you will find links to further information about the Moken, divided into general info, media coverage, photo galleries, books, and audio. For details on groups working directly with the Moken, please click HERE

Media Coverage – Articles and Videos

• Headwinds buffet Thailand’s ‘sea nomads’ Article – Nikkei Asia 2022
• Full Circle Video – National Geographic Society 2022
• Safeguarding the Ocean from Plastics Video – IUCN 2021
• Thailand’s ‘sea people’ adapt to life on land Article – CNN Travel 2020
• Myanmar’s Mergui Archipelago and the Moken Video – WocomoTravel 2020
• Report on Moken in Myanmar Article – BHR Network 2020
• Sea nomad village devastated by fire Article – The Guardian 2019
• The Moken fight for more space Article – Bangkok Post 2019
• A Leap of Faith Article – Silkwinds Magazine/SilverKris 2017
• The semi-nomadic life of the Moken Video – Slice 2015
• The vanishing sea tribe Video – Al Jazeera 2014
• Tsunami, 10 years on Article – The Guardian 2014
• No Word for Worry Movie – Project Moken 2014
• The Moken and Modernity Article – Aeon Magazine 2013
• Time running out for Moken Article – Bangkok Post 2012
• Moken leave behind sea life Article – The Guardian 2012
• Moken and Globalization Article – IRAP/GIS Asie 2012
• How Moken children see underwater Video – BBC 2011
• Stranded Article – Cultural Survival 2008
• Signs in the waves Article – 60 Minutes 2005
• Project Maje links to articles about Moken in Burma 1999-2004

General Information

• Andaman Pilot Project – Well researched information about the Moken from Chulalongkorn University. The site also has links to media coverage of the Moken up to 2009.
• Indigenous People and Parks: The Surin Islands – Published by UNESCO in 2001, this report details the environmental and socio-cultural settings and challenges of Koh Surin.
• Project Moken – the Norwegian organization behind the movie No Word For Worry starring Moken man Hook on his quest to continue the Moken legacy of Kabang building. Project Moken continues to support the Moken by organizing trips for documentary film makers that benefit both the Moken and their culture.
• Moken Alive Museum – the modern solution to share the extensive research on the Moken done by three generations of French anthropologists.

Photo Galleries

• Survival International Moken gallery by Cat Vinton, whose great images are on this website
• BBC Moken photo gallery by Sofie Olsen
• Vanishing Cultures Gallery by Tyler Weidman

Books
We recommend ‘Courage of the Sea – Last Stand of the Moken‘, the 2013 book by Tom Henley and Jeo and Jok Klathalay. Below are links to anthropologist Jacques Ivanoff’s work:

• A Journey Through the Mergui Archipelago 2002
• Rings of Coral: Moken Folktales 2002
• Moken and Semang 2005
• The Moken Boat Symbolic Technology 1999
• Moken: Sea-Gypsies of the Andaman Sea 1997

Audio

• Moken folk song – recorded in 2010 at the Thailand Cultural Center.
• British Library Moken Music CD – 2001 recording by Tom Vater, produced by the British Library. Sound Archive’s World & Traditional Music Section with Topic Records