Gifts and Reciprocity: Mistakes and Personal Experiences in a Bangkok Law Firm

GC140, Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Florida International University

The maintenance and negotiation of personal relationships to accomplish various public ends fascinates me, likely because experience has shown that I’m not very good at it. History, personal experience, place and space construct understandings which facilitate the negotiation of identity for individuals both directly and indirectly are involved in the gift-giving events. This paper is a reflexive look at original research done within a Thai law firm focusing on gift giving and professional relationships. At the time of my research, my ethnographic skills were limited by my own understanding of my role in the narrative that I was assembling. Two decades later, I reflect on issues of race, gender, sexuality, language and the nature of gift relationships and my role in the negotiation of networks and identity--both my own and that of these in law firm with which I was working/researching. After 15 plus years of subsequent experience working in and studying Thailand and China, there are aspects of these relationships that I understand with much more clarity today. This additional experience has allowed me to re-think some of the key aspects of my previous research. In doing so, I have detailed a number of experiences that I hope will be useful to other anthropologist wishing to think critically about their involvements in the field.