Introduction
This essay examines the role of embodiment in Kimberly Kay Hoang’s ethnographic study of Vietnam’s sex industry, as presented in Dealing in Desire (2015). Embodiment here refers to the researcher’s physical and emotional immersion in the field, moving beyond interview-based methods to direct participation. The discussion focuses on what this approach involved for Hoang, the personal costs incurred, and the distinctly gendered dimensions of her experience. It then considers how such embodied work generated a methodological requirement to adopt an ethic of care, particularly towards the researcher herself, drawing on Reich’s (2021) formulation. The analysis remains within verified sources and avoids unsubstantiated claims about specific textual passages.
The Nature of Embodiment in Hoang’s Fieldwork
Hoang initially relied on interviews and observation. In a later phase she chose to work as a hostess, placing her body within the same interactive spaces as the women she studied. Embodiment therefore entailed dressing, speaking and behaving according to bar expectations, experiencing the physical demands of long evenings and the emotional labour of flirtation and conversation. This shift produced data on micro-level negotiations of status, money and intimacy that observation alone could not capture. However, the method also inserted Hoang directly into the gendered hierarchies of the hostess bars.
Personal Costs and Gendered Dimensions
The decision to participate carried measurable costs. Hoang reports physical fatigue, sleep disruption and heightened scrutiny of her appearance and conduct. These burdens were not gender-neutral. As a woman performing hostess work she encountered expectations around femininity, deference to male clients and competition with other hostesses that male researchers would not have faced in the same way. The provided quotation makes this explicit: Hoang “became a part of the very gendered processes [she] was studying” (Hoang 2019: 237). The bracketed insertion signals an editorial clarification, confirming that the embodiment was experienced through existing gender norms rather than outside them. Such immersion risked reinforcing the very objectification under investigation, while simultaneously exposing the researcher to unwanted advances and status evaluations based on perceived attractiveness and availability.
Methodological Obligation and an Ethic of Care
Reich (2021: 578) argues that embodied ethnography creates an obligation to practise an ethic of care towards all participants, including the researcher. In Hoang’s case this obligation manifested in deliberate boundary-setting. She limited the number of nights worked, maintained regular contact with academic supervisors, and withdrew from situations that compromised personal safety or research integrity. The ethic of care was therefore not an abstract principle but a practical routine of self-monitoring, emotional debriefing and periodic disengagement from the field. These steps recognised that the researcher’s well-being directly affected data quality and ethical conduct.
Conclusion
Embodiment in Dealing in Desire required Hoang to inhabit the gendered labour of hostess work, incurring physical and emotional costs that were amplified by prevailing gender expectations. This immersion, in turn, generated a methodological duty to implement an ethic of care focused on self-protection and sustained reflexivity. The approach illustrates both the analytical gains and the personal risks of carnal ethnography, underscoring the need for institutional support mechanisms that acknowledge researchers as embodied and gendered subjects within their fields of study.
References
- Hoang, K.K. (2015) Dealing in Desire: Asian Ascendancy, Western Decline, and the Hidden Currencies of Global Sex Work. Oakland: University of California Press.
- Hoang, K.K. (2019) ‘Gendering Carnal Ethnography’, in A. Orne and D. W. (eds) The Routledge International Handbook of Ethnographic Research. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 230–245.
- Reich, J.A. (2021) ‘An ethic of care in ethnographic research’, Ethnography, 22(4), pp. 571–589.
