Ara Wilson, associate professor of gender, sexuality, and feminist studies at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, passed away on October 10 following a six-year battle with breast cancer. She was 64 years old.
Born and raised in New York City, Dr. Wilson earned her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She later pursued graduate studies at the The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, ultimately earning a master’s degree in 1992 and a doctorate in 1997. During this time, she also taught as an adjunct instructor at Hunter College. While completing her Ph.D., Dr. Wilson conducted fieldwork in Bangkok. The research from this experience later grew into her monograph, Intimate Economies of Bangkok: Tomboys, Tycoons, and Avon Ladies in the Global City (University of California Press, 2004).
Dr. Wilson joined the women’s studies faculty of Ohio State University in 1997. Nine years later, she was hired to the Duke University faculty. At Duke, she served in several roles, such as director of graduate studies for her department, director of sexuality studies, and organizer of the Trans Pedagogy Workshop.
Throughout her career, Dr. Wilson’s research interests spanned a broad range of feminist topics. She studied the histories of anthropology and women’s studies, as well as transnational networks concerned with gender and sexuality, including those surrounding the United Nations, nongovernmental organizations, and the World Social Forum. More recently, her research centered on medical tourism in Thailand, the relationship between intimacy and infrastructure, and the “nature versus nurture” debate as it relates to gender. Dr. Wilson authored numerous scholarly articles and served on the editorial boards of the journals Socialist Review and Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism.