Angelica Wehrli, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Berne, Switzerland
wehrli@anthro.unibe.ch

The aim of my dissertation project is to analyse livelihood strategies of citizens in the socio-economic context of Nam Dinh City. The launching of doi moi in 1986 was a turning point in the history of Vietnam and implies outstanding changes from the former centrally planned economy to a ‘market economy with socialist direction’. By comparing the local context of Nam Dinh City with national trends in Vietnam and by contrasting them with global development, I link the local to the global and therefore enhance contextualisation and possible interdependences. For a better understanding of the multifaceted situation I focus on households as they represent a link between the individual and the society as a whole which are both embedded in the supra-local. On the basis of this analysis both effects and adaptations of household livelihood strategies in the realm of processes of urbanisation and transformation become evident. My goal is to contribute to the understanding of these processes which are increasingly gaining importance not only in Vietnam but also in other parts of the world. Furthermore, this Social Anthropological research is among the first to investigate household livelihood strategies in urban Red River Delta as almost all scholars continue to concentrate their studies on rural Vietnam.

To achieve my research goal I qualitatively analysed livelihood strategies by conducting extensive field research in the medium sized-city, Nam Dinh City. In order to gain differentiated insights into the highly complex process of ongoing socio-economic changes on the supra-local level and the experience of citizens on the local level, I concentrate upon four central topics: Household livelihood strategies and ways of securing livelihood, household livelihood strategies to fight poverty and gender relationships and their implications. Through the analysis of theses three areas the fourth research interest is investigated: the extent to which household livelihood strategies are indicators for social transformation. The analysis of these results will permit to find out if these changes led to ‘parallel’-societies, characterised by sectors that are only loosely connected and bear separate ideals, values and roles. Moreover, I believe that my research will serve as a valuable comparison for studies trying to understand the securing of livelihoods in the realm of (post)-socialist societies.


Keywords: Gender, Migration, Poverty Reduction, (Post)-Socialist Societies, Securing a Livelihood, Socio-Economic Transformation, Urbanisation, Vietnam