| Publication |
2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article analyses the processes of transformation and differentiation since the 1950s in a Vietnamese rural village, hereafter called Chieng Hoa.1 It examines how radical changes in political discourse and economic policies at the national level have affected the welfare and social relations of villagers and how the latter have in turn coped, resisted, as well as shaped such structural changes. Using concrete life stories of local people, the article identifies the winners and losers in this transformation process, the trajectories households or individuals have taken to arrive at their current positions, and the strategies that they are adopting for the future. It demonstrates that differentiation in Chieng Hoa implies changes in social relations, including but not limited to relations of production, and that even within this single locality, differentiation can take various forms and processes over time, whether specific to or cutting across changes in macro-policies. The article also reveals that in the often perceived equal collectivisation, inequalities still existed and became causes of differentiation in the subsequent decollectivisation period. However, while conditions for a permanent differentiation were present, such process has failed to materialise in the current integration period. Differentiation has become more unpredictable as past winners can lose out due to unstable market conditions.
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