Ara Wilson

Who is Ara Wilson?

Ara Wilson is a university professor and author. Her work focuses on the feminist ethnography of globalization through description and analysis of various market economies. Her work examines the cultural, social, and sexual aspects of Bangkok economies, as well as illustrating the inaccuracies of Eurocentric ideology. Between 1988 and 2000, Wilson did fieldwork in Thailand and spent the years 1992-1994 doing research for The Intimate Economies of Bangkok: Tomboys, Tycoons, and Avon Ladies in the Global City. Wilson’s research is heavily focused on sexual and ethnic identity which “are produced and transformed through the modernity of the non-Western world”. Wilson is currently director of the program in the study of sexualities at Duke University, where she is also an Associate Professor of Women’s Studies. Wilson works extensively with non-governmental organizations dealing with women’s rights, as well as sexual rights in Thailand.