Tue., Jan. 15: Ara Wilson on "Intimate Economies: Capitalism, Sex, and Gender in Bangkok"

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

Tuesday, January 15
Lecture: "Intimate Economies: Capitalism, Sex, and Gender in Bangkok"
Speaker: Ara Wilson
Time: 4:30-5:30 p.m.
Location: 120 Mershon Center, the Ohio State University
1501 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH
(reception follows)

Abstract: From the 1960s until 1997, when the Asian economic crisis
began in Bangkok, Thailand had one of the fastest growing economies
in the world.  This talk draws on an ethnographic study during
Bangkok's boom years that explores the ways that transnational
capital flows are refashioning expressions of gender and sexuality in
Thailand.  The research concentrates on six modern "markets" --
including Amway and Avon, the go-go bars for sex tourists, and
shopping malls -- to chronicle some of the ways that capitalist
market economies are embedding themselves in everyday relationships
and identities, or "intimate life."  The talk outlines Dr. Wilson's
innovative approach to the question of how the global economy impacts
local life and provides some ethnographic examples from these diverse
market sites.

About the Speaker: Ara Wilson is an Assistant Professor of
Transnational Feminist Cultural Studies in the Department of Women's
Studies at OSU.  She has conducted fieldwork in Thailand for many
years and has participated in international feminist projects,
including attending the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women at
Beijing.  In 1999-2000 she was a Rockefeller Fellow at the Institute
for Research on Women at Rutgers University.  Among her publications
are articles on Avon/Amway in Thailand (_Critique of Anthropology_)
and an article on sexual rights in the forthcoming anthology, _Truth
Claims: Representation and Human Rights_ (Rutgers).

Sponsored by OSU-WID and the Dept of Women's Studies
For an OSU campus map that highlights the Mershon Center, go to
<http://www.mershon.ohio-state.edu/location.htm>.
For more info, contact Cathy Rakowski at <rakowski.1@xxxxxxx>.
--
Yoshie

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