Research Interests for Ara Wilson

Research Interests: sex and gender in globalization; transnational feminist theory and networks; ethnography and research design; Bangkok, urban Southeast Asia, and transnational zones

My work contributes to the feminist ethnography of globalization by providing theoretically engaged descriptions of transnational sites and processes. My approach combines attention to political economy, critical studies of culture, and post-colonial critiques of Eurocentrism. I use long term fieldwork in Bangkok, Thailand to explore how sexuality, gender and ethnicity are produced and transformed through the modernity of the non-Western world. I am working to develop ways to analyze gender/sexuality at a global scale, in part by studying such international events as the 1995 Beijing UN Conference on Women or the World Social Forum. This research is part of a current book project, Sexual Latitudes, that considers the implication of globalization as a stage for sexual politics. I am also in the early phases of a project on medical tourism to Thailand.

Keywords:
Anthropology, Cultural, Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand, Capitalism--Social aspects, Commodification, Desire, direct selling organizations, DSO, gay, Gender, glbt , globalization, Globalization, Human geography, human rights, Infrastructure (Economics), Intellectual life--History--20th century, lesbian, markets, Markets, medical tourism, multilevel marketing, Muser Mentor, NGO, political economy, Political economy, Political science, prostitution , queer , queer theory, Queer Theory, Science and Technology Studies, Sex tourism, sex work, sexuality, Sexuality, Southeast Asia, Thailand, traffic in women, trafficking, UN
Current projects:
Sexual Latitudes: The Erotic Politics of Globalization (book)
Market Shrines in Bangkok
Medical Tourism
Areas of Interest:

Globalization + Transnationalism
UN, NGO, Human Rights, Sexual Rights, Women's Rights
Political Economy + Culture
Gender + Sexuality
Feminist, Queer, Postcolonial Theory

Representative Publications   (search)
  1. Wilson, A, The intimate economies of Bangkok: Tomboys, tycoons, and Avon ladies in the global city (July, 2004), University of California, ISBN 9780520237834 [html] [abs]
  2. A. Wilson, Anthropology and the Political Philsophy of Hardt and Negri: Introduction, Special Theme Issue on Hardt & Negri, edited by Ara Wilson, Focaal (2012)
  3. Wilson, A, Medical Tourism in Bangkok, in Asian Biotech, edited by Ong, A; Chen, N (2010), Duke UP
  4. Wilson, A, NGOs as Erotic Sites, in Development, Sexual Rights and Global Governance, edited by Lind, A (January, 2010), Routledge
  5. Wilson, A, Feminism in the space of the world social forum, special issue on the World Social Forum, Journal of International Women's Studies, vol. 8 no. 3 (April, 2007), pp. 10-27, ISSN 1539-8706 [index.htm%3E] [abs]