Department of Anthropology

Pilapa Esara
PhD, Brown University
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology

• Courses Taught
• Areas of Specialization
• Current Research Projects
• Selected Publications

Courses Taught

• ANT 100  Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
• ANT 315  The Migration Experience: a cultural perspective

Areas of Specialization

Issues of gender inequality and social difference; social practices of marriage and intimacy; identity negotiations; processes of migration; economic development and globalization; Asia and its diasporas

Current Research Projects

For the hundreds of migrants who work in the factories of Thailand’s capital, how has economic development affected their lives? My current research on women’s migrant and marital experiences in Bangkok provides a nuanced analysis of how social change in the Third World is perceived and perpetuated. Future projects will continue a focus on the relationship between the perpetuation of societal inequalities and changing patterns of marriage and intimacy in Thailand (and elsewhere).

Publications

2004
“Women Will Keep the Household: The Mediation of Work and Family by Female Labor Migrants in Bangkok.” Journal of Critical Asian Studies 36:2:199-216.