TY - JOUR
T1 - Hijacking area studies
T2 - Ethnographic approaches to southeast Asian airlines
AU - Ferguson, Jane
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Busan University of Foreign Studies. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/7
Y1 - 2020/7
N2 - Area Studies, by definition, conjure ideas of emplaced knowledge; in-depth interdisciplinary understanding of language, history, culture and politics of a nation or region. Where detractors might see this approach as overly empirical, therefore precluding theoretical sophistication, others argue that “places" are either artificially constructed, or that processes of globalisation have obliterated the cultural zone. But what if we turn an ethnographic eye to those very processes and technologies themselves? Can Area Studies take to the air, and if so, what are the attendant challenges and benefits? Based on insights from ethnography amongst airline customer service workers; ground and cabin crews in Thailand and Myanmar, this research examines the airline cabin as a field for ethnographic study, and as an emplaced site for political and cultural processes. With participant observation-based knowledge of Southeast Asian cabin crews, this paper examines the 1990 hijack of Thai Airways TG 305 from an emplaced cultural perspective.
AB - Area Studies, by definition, conjure ideas of emplaced knowledge; in-depth interdisciplinary understanding of language, history, culture and politics of a nation or region. Where detractors might see this approach as overly empirical, therefore precluding theoretical sophistication, others argue that “places" are either artificially constructed, or that processes of globalisation have obliterated the cultural zone. But what if we turn an ethnographic eye to those very processes and technologies themselves? Can Area Studies take to the air, and if so, what are the attendant challenges and benefits? Based on insights from ethnography amongst airline customer service workers; ground and cabin crews in Thailand and Myanmar, this research examines the airline cabin as a field for ethnographic study, and as an emplaced site for political and cultural processes. With participant observation-based knowledge of Southeast Asian cabin crews, this paper examines the 1990 hijack of Thai Airways TG 305 from an emplaced cultural perspective.
KW - Area studies
KW - Aviation
KW - Hijack
KW - Myanmar
KW - Thai Airways
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85169077938&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.22801/svn.2020.12.2.225
DO - 10.22801/svn.2020.12.2.225
M3 - Article
SN - 2092-738X
VL - 12
SP - 225
EP - 244
JO - Suvannabhumi: Multidisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
JF - Suvannabhumi: Multidisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
IS - 2
ER -