thai thai thai: just finished reading ara wilson’s The Intimate Economies of Bangkok: Tomboys, Tycoons, and Avon Ladies in the Global City . fascinating how capitalism interacts with sexual, gender, religious and ethnic identity. as i always do, i found the stories fascinating (tom(boy)s and (la)dees !), but felt that the theorizing was not obviously linked to facts or data.. my feeling is that such anthropological treatments are somehow reportage/literature combined with anecdotal sociology. i just find the anecdotal aspect of the theorizing unsatisfying… anyway. just like in india, the transliterations from english into local use are always touchingly entertaining (ara wilson gives lotut for lotus, and khunleufoon pensin for colorful pencils as examples).