Unearthing Politics: Environment and Contestation in Post-socialist Vietnam

Acknowledgments
Note on Vietnamese Translation, Diacritics, and Names
Contents
1 Introduction
	The Ambiguities of Environmental Politics
	Resource Conflict as Disruption and Possibility
	The Encrusted Politics of Post-Socialist Vietnam
	The Promises of Everyday and Underground Politics
	Unearthing Politics in Vietnam
	Methodological Notes
	Conclusion
	Works Cited
2 Political Histories of Vietnamese Bauxite
	Introduction
	Geology, Technology, and Political Economy of Bauxite, Alumina and Aluminum
	Political Histories of Central Highlands Bauxite
		Vietnam’s Aluminum Dream
		Building Socialism Across the Country: Dreams of International Socialism
		Shifting to a Market Economy: Capitalist Aluminum Dreams
		Rising China: Vietnam’s Aluminum Dilemma
	The Prime Minister’s Decision 167: The National Bauxite Policy
		The First Bauxite-Alumina Projects: Tân Rai and Nhân Cơ
	Conclusion
	Works Cited
3 Power and Limits of Embedded Advocacy
	Seeds of a Debate: Two Articles in the Saigon Economic Times
	Clearing Ground for a Policy Dialogue: The Consultancy on Development (CODE)
	A Small Network of Scientists: Meeting with Mineralogist Nguyễn Thanh Sơn
	The “Mud Bomb”: The Regional Workshop in Đắk Nông
	A Flagrant Response in the Domestic Press: “The Central Highlands Will Die Because of … Bauxite Mining”
	The First Petition: The Scientists and VUSTA
	General Giáp’s Letter: Hundreds, if Not Thousands, of Chinese Workers
	The Online Debate: One Hundred Flowers Bloom
	The Government’s “Scientific Workshop”: The Limits of Embedded Advocacy
	Conclusion
	Works Cited
4 Reemergence of the Intellectuals
	What Is an Intellectual?
	A Pre-Cursor to the Online Petition: In the Shadow of the Nhân Văn—Giai Phẩm Affair
	A New Partnership: Different Ways of Being an Intellectual
	The Arts and Sciences Together
	The Text of the Petition
	Reading the Petition
	The First 135 Signatures
	Delivering the Petition
	Conclusion: Being and Becoming an Intellectual in Vietnam
	References
5 Two Arms of the Party-State
	The Politburo Speaks, as the Debate Continues to Swell
		A Disquieted Public: Leading up to the National Assembly’s Bi-Annual Meeting
	The National Assembly’s Bi-Annual Meeting: The Responsive Arm?
		Preparing for the Bi-Annual Meeting
		An Explosive Debate in the National Assembly
		In the Aftermath of the Assembly Debates
	State Crackdown: The Repressive Arm
		Indirect Control: A Crackdown on Bloggers and Intellectuals
		Direct Control: Cyber-Attacks and Police Interrogations
	Conclusion
	Works Cited
6 Conclusion: What Came Next
	Online Petition Movement
	Going to the Streets: Mass Demonstrations
		Cross-Country Mass Demonstrations
	Self-Declared Autonomous Organizations
	Conclusion
	Works Cited
Images of Bauxite-Alumina Production at the Tân Rai Mining Sites in Lâm Đồng Province (2017)
Index