Ara Wilson

Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies and Director of Graduate Studies
Overview
My work makes analytical and empirical contributions to the feminist study of globalization and to what I call queer political economy (QPE). Combining Science & Technology Studies (STS) approaches with materialist theories, I remain invested in empirical esearch, particularly ethnographically informed depictions of life under global capitalism. This direction also involved reflection on analytical categories and frameworks, such as intimacy, infrastructure, or gender. I have conducted long-term fieldwork in Bangkok, Thailand and short-term research on other transnational spaces, like NGO conferences.
I have taught a range of undergraduate courses in Gender Studies and regularly teach Money/Sex/Power and Nature/Nurture-Sex/Gender. At the graduate level, I have taught seminars on transnational feminist theory; research design; infrastructure; sexuality; and political economic approaches.
Wilson, A. The Intimate Economies of Bangkok: Tomboys, Tycoons, and Avon Ladies in The Global City. University of California, 2004.
Wilson, Ara. “Urban Sexualities.” Wiley Blackwell Companion to Urban Anthropology, edited by Don Nonini, Wiley Blackwell, 2014.
Wilson, A. “Intimacy: A Useful Concept for Global Analysis.” The Global and the Intimate : Feminism in Our Time, edited by Geraldine Pratt and Victoria Rosner, Columbia University Press, 2012, pp. 31–56. Open Access Copy
Wilson, A. “NGOs as Erotic Sites.” Development, Sexual Rights and Global Governance, edited by Amy Lind, Routledge, 2010.
Wilson, A. “Medical Tourism in Bangkok.” Asian Biotech, edited by Aihwa Ong and Nancy Chen, Duke UP, 2010.
Wilson, A. “Thailand and Sex Tourism.” The Palgrave Dictionary of Transnational History, edited by Akira Iriye and Pierre-Yves Saunier, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Wilson, A. “Plural Economies and Gendered Resistance in Bangkok.” On the Edges of Development: Cultural Interventions, edited by John Foran et al., Routledge, 2008.
Wilson, A. “Feminism: International and Global Institutions.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, Oxford University Press, 2008.
Wilson, A. “Feminism: International and Global Institutions and Networks.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, edited by Bonnie G. Smith, Oxford University Press, 2008.
Wilson, A. “Diasporic agents and trans-Asian flows in the making of asian modernity: The case of Thailand.” Cambridge University Press, vol. 9780521877725, 2007, pp. 160–76. Scopus, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511491375.009. Full Text Open Access Copy
Wilson, A. “Thailand and Sex Tourism.” The Palgrave Dictionary of Transnational History, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Pages
Wilson, A. “The infrastructure of intimacy.” Signs, vol. 41, no. 2, Dec. 2016, pp. 247–80. Scopus, doi:10.1086/682919. Full Text
Wilson, A. “Intimität. Eine nützliche kategorie transnationaler analyse.” Feministische Studien, vol. 32, no. 1, May 2014, pp. 63–77. Scopus, doi:10.1515/fs-2014-0107. Full Text
Wilson, A. “Anthropology and the radical philosophy of antonio negri and michael hardt.” Focaal, no. 64, Nov. 2012, pp. 3–15. Scopus, doi:10.3167/fcl.2012.640101. Full Text Open Access Copy
Wilson, A. “National Economy and Bodily Scales: Medical Tourism in Thailand.” Body and Society, edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Nancy Scheper-Hughes, 2011.
Wilson, A. “Post-fordist desires: The commodity aesthetics of bangkok sex shows.” Feminist Legal Studies, vol. 18, no. 1, Apr. 2010, pp. 53–67. Scopus, doi:10.1007/s10691-010-9145-2. Full Text Open Access Copy
Wilson, A. “SEX AT THE FORUM: SEXUAL JUSTICE AND THE ALTER-GLOBALIZATION MOVEMENT.” Scholar and the Feminist (Barnard), vol. 7, 2010.
Wilson, A. “Sexuelle Gerechtigkeit und die globalisierungskritische Bewegung.” Luxembourg., vol. 1, 2010.
Wilson, A. “The sacred geography of Bangkok's markets.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, vol. 32, no. 3, Sept. 2008, pp. 631–42. Scopus, doi:10.1111/j.1468-2427.2008.00801.x. Full Text
Wilson, A. “Queer Isles: Review, Tom Boellstorff, THE GAY ARCHIPELEGO.” Glq, vol. 14, 2008, pp. 659–63.
Wilson, A. “Feminism in the space of the world social forum.” Journal of International Women’S Studies, vol. 8, no. 3, Apr. 2007, pp. 10–27.
Pages
Wilson, A., editor. “The empire debate: Hardt and Negri's anthropological encounter..” Focaal 64, vol. 64, 2012.
Wilson, A. “Special Issue: Anthropology and the Radical Political Philosophy of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt.” Focaal, edited by Ara Wilson, 2012.
Wilson, A. Medical Tourism Project. 2010.
Wilson, A. Sexual Latitudes: The Erotic Life of Globalization. 2010.