Beijing Harper Lecture | Dealing in Desire: Intimacy and Economic Transactions

The University of Chicago Center in Beijing
20th floor, Culture Plaza
No. 59A Zhong Guan Cun Street
Haidian District Beijing 100872

Featuring Kimberly Kay Hoang

As Vietnam finds its place on the global stage, physical intimacy has become a vital form of currency in its economic relations. To write her book Dealing in Desire: Asian Ascendancy, Western Decline, and the Hidden Currencies of Global Sex Work, sociologist Kimberly Kay Hoang worked as a bartender and hostess for five years in Ho Chi Minh City. The result is an ethnographic study of the stratified sex industry, taking an in-depth and often personal look at sex workers and their clients. Examining the industry from a regional and ultimately international perspective, Hoang discussed her book and the interconnections of high finance, charitable giving to sex workers, and the intimate spheres of the informal economy.

Questions?
Contact harperlectures@uchicago.edu or 773.702.7788.

Event Details

2:00p.m. Registration and networking
2:30p.m. Presentation and discussion
3:30p.m. Reception

Location

The University of  Chicago Center in Beijing
Culture Plaza  20th floor
59A  Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District, Beijing  100872

芝加哥大学北京中心
文化大厦20  层
北京市海淀区中关村大街甲59 号100872

About the Speaker

Kimberly Kay Hoang is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, focusing on economic sociology, globalization, gender, and qualitative methods. Her honors include the National Women Studies Association Gloria E. Anzaldúa Book Prize, along with numerous awards from the American Sociological Association.

Buy Hoang’s book Dealing in Desire or read more about her work.