Saigon’s Edge: On the Margins of Ho Chi Minh City

Acknowledgments

My warmest thanks to the people of Hóc Môn district, who tolerated my presence among them, answered my questions, and posed a lifetime of new questions. In particular, I thank our neighbors, who introduced me to the craziness of life on the edge and who exposed the nittygritty realities of “renovation.” Trí and Liêm showed me the intricacies of getting goods to market and sending their young daughters to a better education. Phương introduced me to the loving family life behind the struggles of a lottery ticket seller. On the Tân Thới Nhì People’s Committee , the hard work of Đỗ Thị Kim Tuyến forever challenged all un- flattering misperceptions about Vietnamese civil servants, and her genuine compassion and friendship made my wife and me feel welcome in the community. The police in Tân Thới Nhì kept careful watch over us but never treated us unfairly; I later learned that “surveillance” has its advantages : it kept the thieves away when we were out of the house (by the thieves’ own admission!). I received support from Nguyễn Văn Tiệp at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, then under the able leadership of Ngô Văn Lê. I developed deep friendships with many people, especially anh Chí, anh Tùng and his family, em Ngọc, all my friends on Phạm Ngọc Thạch street, and Tiffany and Lộc, who gave me a window into the vibrant world of Vietnamese art and music. Matt Masur, Damon Hill, Benny Tran, and Howard Henry Chen were great interlocutors in Saigon while parts of this research were being conducted. At Cornell University, Terence Turner nurtured my study of Marxism and all things anthropological; I learned something new from him every time we met. Viranjini Munasinghe proved a model teacher, and her insightful comments and unflagging support carried me through the most difficult periods of my work. I am convinced that Keith Taylor knows more about Vietnam than any living person, and I thank him for offering me a model for scholarly precision and intellectual dedication. Acknowledgments ix Jakob Rigi has proved a veritable intellectual sounding board on all the topics in this book and beyond. In addition to my committee members, Andrew Willford has always been a model teacher, Southeast Asianist, and anthropologist who has taught me more than he imagines. I still miss A. Thomas Kirsch, who first welcomed me into the anthropology department , and I thank Yohko Tsuji for keeping his memory alive. I am indebted to the Cornell Southeast Asia Program (SEAP), the tight-knit intellectual community then directed by Thak Chaloemtiarana, run by Nancy Loncto, and held aloft by Wendy Treat. I especially thank my fellow students Jane Ferguson, Jen Foley, Tyrell Haberkorn, Doreen Lee, Johan Lindquist, Amanda Rath, Rick Ruth, Made Supriatma, Lisa Todzia, Christian Lammerts, Chie Ikeya, Alex Denes, and Worrasit Tantinipankul . Within SEAP we had our own little Vietnam subdivision. Special thanks to Keith Taylor, Thuy Tranviet, Tracy Barrett, Hồng Bùi, Audrey Cedeno, Nina Hien, Martin Loicano, Jon McIntyre, Bình Ngô, Brian Ostrowski, Vu Pham, Christophe Robert, Naomi Steinberg, Allison Truitt, and Wynn Wilcox. Another student, Steve Graw, was really my teacher; his spirit lives on with every word I write about Vietnam. Brenda Maiale, Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi, and Anna Pandey made anthropological studies in Ithaca inspiring. I owe special intellectual debts to Christophe Robert, who showed me what it means to be a true scholar, unflinching, provocative, and always on the edge of new ideas, and to Sasha Newell, who is always an inspiring anthropological sounding board. Christian Lentz and Adriane Lentz-Smith first helped ease the transition back to Ithaca after fieldwork, did it again by easing the transition to North Carolina, and then did it once again by helping us settle in New Haven. In North Carolina, Dan Duffy showed me that Vietnam studies can thrive from the back of a barn. Joe Harris and all the folks in the University Writing Program at Duke University were a great support as I juggled teaching with the final chapters of this book. In New Haven, my new home, my colleagues in the Department of Anthropology and on the Council on Southeast Asian Studies not only welcomed me with warmth and kindness but provide a stimulating intellectual environment within which I finished this work and embark on new projects. I have an...