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Pilapa Esara
PhD, Brown University
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
Fall 2013 Class Schedule:
Ant 305 - Gender, Sex and Power T & R - 11:00 am -12:15 pm
Ant 416 - Hon - Exiled to Amertica R - 5:30 - 8:15 pm
Ant 470 - Professional Development T & R - 12:30 - 1:45 pm
Fall 2013 Office Hours:
Tuesdays 9:30-10:45 am & 2-3pm
Thursdays 3:30-5:15 pm
Office Phone: 585-395-5705
or email for appointment
Courses Taught
- ANT 100 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
- ANT 200 Ethnographic Experience
- ANT 305 Sex, Gender & Power
- ANT 315 The Migration Experience: a cultural perspective
- ANT 321 Culture Change and Globalization
- ANT 394 Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology
- ANT 416/516 Exiled to America: Refugee Resettlement Experiences
- ANT 470 Anthropology as a Profession
Areas of Specialization
Issues of displacement and refugee resettlement; ethnographic documentary production; gender inequality and social difference; social practices of marriage and intimacy; processes of migration and identity negotiations; economic development and globalization; Asia and its diasporas
Current Research Projects
Persons of refugee-status arrive in the U.S. to start their lives anew as survivors of violence and persecution. New York state is ranked fourth in the nation as a destination for newly-arrived refugees. The majority of these arrivals settle in western New York (90% in 2012 according to BRIA) and almost a quarter call Monroe County "home". How do refugees start over in Rochester, NY? What are their adaptation needs and challenges? I am currently analyzing the results of an ethnographic study which asked these questions concerning refugees of Burma origins.
Past research has focused on social change and economic development in Thailand. My ethnographic documentary entitled, "Day In, Day Out: Selling Food in Bangkok" offers a window into Thailand's urban foodscape. Life for the average laborer in Bangkok can be difficult. Many rent single rooms without kitchen facilities. To meet their everyday nutritional and material needs, working class residents turn to the street, to local food vendors and sidewalk merchants. The documentary explores the mundane complexities and challenges of being a small-time Bangkok entrepreneur based in an urban slum. I have also studied social change in Thailand through the lens of intimate relationships and changing notions of marriage and family.
Publications
[Forthcoming] (2013) Esara, P. Loving Warm Families: Exploring gender equality within Thai marriages. Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, 34.
Ferguson, J. (Ch. ed.), Cassaniti, J., Costa, L., Johnson, A., Johsnson, T., Esara, P., Kitiarsa, P., Musikawong, S., and Zeamer, E. (2013) “Thailand Chapter”. In J. Barker, E. Harms, and J. Lindquist (Eds.), Southeast Asian Figures of Modernity. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Esara, P. (Producer, Director). (2012). Day in, Day Out: Selling food in Bangkok. [Motion Picture]
Adjudicated Screenings:
Nov. 2012 – Brownfish Short Film Festival (New York, NY)
Screenings:
Jan. 2013 – NYFQ (formerly Emerging Filmmakers Series), (Rochester, NY)
Dec. 2012 – 3rd Athens Ethnographic Film Festival (Athens, Greece)
Nov. 2012 – SUNY-wide Film Festival (Fredonia, NY)
Sept. 2012 – DocUtah Documentary Film Festival (St. George, UT)
June 2012 – 6th Annual Philadelphia Independent Film Festival (Philadelphia, PA)
Esara, P. (2012, June) Moral Scrutiny, Marital Inequality: Cohabitation in Bangkok, Thailand. The Asian Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 13:3:211-27.
Esara, P. (2009) Imagining the Western Husband: Thai women’s desires for matrimony, status and beauty. Ethnos, 74:3:403-426
Esara, P. (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.
Book Review:
P. Esara, (2011, December) [Review of the book Marketing Dreams, Manufacturing Heroes: The Transnational Labor Brokering of Filipino Workers, by A. R. Guevarra] Gender & Society, 25:6.
Last Updated 9/13/13
