Emily Nguyen, Teaching Fellow, Returns from Summer Research in Hanoi

This is a bit about the TF for this course, Emily Nguyen. Emily explains:

I study the cultural politics of agrarian change in formerly agricultural villages of peri-urban Hanoi, Vietnam. In the past decade, urban expansion has transformed many of Hanoi’s neighboring rural villages into new urban and industrial areas. Rural land extraction has led to significant sociocultural and material changes for village residents.  This summer, I collaborated with graduate students from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Hanoi to find a field site for my research in peri-urban Hanoi. For three months, we would drive motorbikes into the villages surrounding the new urban and industrial areas, talk to residents, and meet with local historians to learn more about the history of Hanoi’s urban planning practices. One of the two field sites I chose is Mễ Trì Hạ Village, an area famous for growing rice to make “cốm,” a particular kind of young sticky rice used in desserts. Since losing their farmland to new several new urban development projects, some farming households have transformed empty slots next to their village into temporary gardens to grow herbs and peaches (see picture).