Contestations in the Production and Trade of Upland Alcoholic Spirits in Northern Vietnam

In the uplands of Vietnam, home-distilled rice and maize spirits have long had a strong sociocultural and economic role for many ethnic minority groups. Recently, some of these products have been transformed into cultural commodities, as the Vietnamese state and other parties have — in activities often labelled development interventions — identified, invested in and branded villages specialized in their production. A case study of the trademarking of one upland village in northern Vietnam designated as specializing in alcohol production reveals emergent conflicts among groups of differently situated actors in the upland spirit commodity chain. These actors include ethnic minority producers and traders, lowland Vietnamese traders and wholesalers and the Vietnamese state. The case also illustrates the various actors’ strategies for attempting to maintain or acquire stakes in the alcohol market.