Abstract
This paper examines the Thai concept of sanuk as a Global South resource for rethinking leisure theory. It argues that dominant conceptualizations of leisure have largely been organized around the analytical distinction between work and leisure, reflecting historically and geographically specific experiences of Western industrial modernity rather than universal understandings of leisure. Drawing on sanuk, the paper proposes an alternative perspective that shifts attention from categorizing activities as work or leisure towards understanding leisure as an experiential mode of engagement embedded within everyday social practice. The paper demonstrates how concepts originating in the Global South can contribute not only distinctive empirical perspectives but also alternative conceptual vocabularies for theorizing leisure. Rather than replacing established theories, sanuk complements them by exposing the contingent nature of the work–leisure divide and broadening the conceptualization of leisure as a human experience.