Upland Transformations in Vietnam

Upland Transformations considers the effects of economic development, authority formation and landscape change within Vietnam's political economy on the country's 'uplands.' The contributors position the uplands as an integral part of political, economic and cultural processes at the national and international level, an approach that shatters stereotypes of the uplands as a separate ethnic and biophysical realm and raises questions about the assumptions that have informed research on upland areas and post-socialist transitions, and government policy on these regions. Movements from customary to state authority or from a subsistence to a commoditized economy are neither automatic nor uniform. The case studies in this book show that the course of events in Vietnam's uplands reflects the country's cultures, organization and landscapes, and its particular history and larger political economy. Negotiations over authority and economy in the uplands recursively contribute to larger processes constituting the Vietnamese state and generating social inequalities. The Vietnamese experience thus provides valuable lessons applicable to research on upland regions and post-socialist transformations in other parts of the world. The book features work by young Vietnamese and foreign scholars deeplys engaged with research on upland livelihoods and ecosystems in Vietnam.