From Ruins to Rapid Growth: Tracing Power in the Global Economy

Growing up, I bore witness to a nation after ruin. Less than 50years ago, Vietnam gained its independence. My reality is not guns or bullets but the rapid pace of investment and construction. In 50 years, Vietnam transformed into a market economy with rapid development. Experiencing these changes, I am inspired to study the power dynamics and complexity of the transnational economy along with the relationship between different market and political actors in shaping and maintaining the global economy.

I started my undergraduate journey at National Economics University with an entrance valedictorian award and scholarship, which gave me the opportunity to engage in research as soon as I set foot on campus. I was hired by the Department of Economics, where I worked on many interdisciplinary quantitative economic topics. My quantitative research experience on several financial topics such as the volatility of multiple financial markets, economic sustainability, digitalization, sanctions, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and bribery has given me concrete foundations to pursue topics at the intersection of economics and sociology. In my research experiences in economics and finance, I came to find troubling aspects of inequality that pushed me to dig deeper and informed my desire to bring in a sociological lens to understand the mechanism of the market. During this time, I had the opportunity to work with big clients, namely OECD and multiple national ministries. I have presented my work at conferences and published my paper in national journals by the Ministry of Finance and the Central (Federal) Economic Committee.

In one of my works on Bribery, Collateral Requirements, Credit Information Sharing, and Institutional Constraints, the findings confirmed the benefits of corruption on loans, collateral requirements, or the role of bribery and corruption in substituting collateral for state-owned banks. I realized there is more to the story than simply claiming what is “right” or “wrong,” where corruption and bribery can be informal solutions to a lack of transparency and institutional constraints. In my search for the underlying mechanism of economic and social ties, I looked critically at Dr. Kimberly Kay Hoang’s work, where she studied businesses and their ways of operating in a high-risk market. Although the perspectives of firms have been scrutinized by scholars, existing literature is still lacking political elites’ points of view. Therefore, I set out to provide the missing perspectives of political elites through an independent research project using ethnography and in-depth interviews. Navigating intricate networks of political elites from North, Central, and South Vietnam, I found the distinction in economic development and regional political contexts that affect how deals and policies are being made.

In 2022, I started my first qualitative research under the guidance of Dr. Kimberly Kay Hoang from the University of Chicago. I started to connect with political elites from different levels, and I discovered cultural aspects that relate closely to the history of the development of a nation and the Confucianism-Communism paradox, amongst other findings. Maintaining and fostering close ties with political elites, I slowly discovered the intricate dynamics that facilitate financial deal-making and decision-making, where the interaction of elites collides with each other and the interests of civilians/peasants. Behind the informal deal-making practices, I see a complex process of negotiation and legal navigation at the core of risky markets.

Under the scorching heat in the summer of 2023, I witnessed a family devastated after having their land “confiscated” in their final hearing with the province committee. The daughters, sons, and the 90-year-old father were crying, screaming, and cursing in front of the People’s Committee Office, whose responsibility is to serve the interests of the people. I was in a car with a high-profile political elite, shivering from the cold of what I thought must have been the air conditioning. Under the heat that I could not feel, we were watching the scene from a space so distant from the reality outside. I was speechless, and my palms were all sweaty. How could I write about what I had just witnessed? Should I use my position as the daughter of a working-class single-mother household to once again tell the story of villains and protagonists, of oppressors and oppressed, of a developing country that is so peculiar to Westerners? That moment planted a seed in me as I reflected on my role as a researcher that follows me to the US. Moving to the US for the first time in my life, I was suddenly a foreigner and a minority as I familiarized myself with the concepts of the Global North and the Global South. I learned new knowledge and about the construction of knowledge itself. I was no longer a woman scholar, but rather a woman Vietnamese scholar.

After obtaining three research grants, I went back to Vietnam in the summer of 2024 to continue investigating the financial deal-making landscape. Leveraging on my past connections, I was able to once again navigate the field. Referred by high-profile economic and government elites and education leaders, I traveled to a total of 7 provinces. During three months of fieldwork, I talked to crucial political leaders from provinces, made connections with multiple chambers of commerce, and attended numerous business events. I argue that local political elites and Vietnamese citizens are under the influence of global forces. Global forces are the exchange of accumulation for development where economic benefits are prioritized. This creates fierce competition between markets that enhances inequalities and violence. Local political elites need to comply with an unrealistic and time-constrained agenda set by the federal government to satisfy the needs of foreign investors in order to attract investments.

Continue pursuing my project at the University of Chicago, my prerogative as a Vietnamese scholar therefore is to uncover the story of Vietnam, decolonize the knowledge that we think we know, and stray away from “the problematic and imperialist assumption that all things powerful and sophisticated were seeded in the Global North” (Ho, 2023). I advocate for the understanding of different global markets and economic systems, especially underdeveloped, developing, and emerging markets, through a racial, historical, and post-colonial lens with a mixed-method approach. Through my research projects, I aim to contribute to the literature of global capitalism and transnational and global sociology by identifying the actors of the economy and how they shape, reshape, maintain, and navigate the ever-changing, developing, and shifting nature of global markets and globalization. In addition, I adopt a quantitative approach to my study by undertaking cash flow analysis, international trade models, and network analysis to further understand and uncover the interconnectedness of the global economy and different markets.

MY RESEARCH

My story: Who am I?

Hi, "My" name is me. I come from Vietnam.

For the longest time, I never realized that my family was poor, or at least had a lower income. Growing up, the nights were never quiet for me. The sound of water dripping from my broken sink, laughter from food vendors nearby, and occasional domestic conflicts echoed through my ears. When it’s pouring, or sometimes even just merely raining, our ceiling will leak. Luckily, we always had enough buckets for major leaking spots. Occasionally, we had dead rats stuck on our ceilings that stunk up the apartment, and everyone would have to sleep in the living room. But I never felt like we were poor.

I felt like I had everything. I had decent English training at an early age, I got to travel, and I got money to do what I wanted: piano lessons, violin lessons, etc. Yet, I realized later on that what I received was the collective enormous effort of the people around me—my mom, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my mom's friends, and many more. Their only reason for providing me with so much was so that I could have all of the opportunities growing up in a single-parent household. I grew up with more than enough—I grew up with love.

Despite my mom's long working hours and my grandfather's restless effort, I was still looked down on by more privileged kids, teachers, and society. Being underestimated is therefore not new to me; it became my superpower, yet I never quite got used to that feeling. As I embarked on new journeys, I used to feel that I was not seen as competent, or at least I didn’t feel confident enough. I became the Vietnamese girl who didn't know anything and who was not as good as others. Maybe I was, but never for too long. Whether I changed or will change anyone’s mind about my ability or not, I'll always be me—the girl who never stops trying and fighting for what she loves. Slowly, I started to grow and realized how my experience has enriched me as a person, a student, a mentor, an instructor, and a scholar. I realized how I became more sensitive, patient, and empathetic. I was and still can embrace my journeys and struggles in a way that provides me with deeper insight into not only my life but also the world around me.

“What’s Hanoi?” by Le Tien Dung

Holding such experiences close to my heart, I understand the importance of education and support. I understand what it feels like to not be heard, seen, or taken seriously, to not have support and resources, and to be rejected. My experience and position as a marginalized student have shaped my approach to pedagogy and research. I also acknowledge the importance of teaching and providing a safe space for learning. I encourage and invite deep and meaningful interaction and engagement while aiming to create safe environments for people to share their experiences and advocates for creating and maintaining collaborative and supportive communities.

"My" name is me. I'm a PhD student from Vietnam.

TEACHING POSITIONALITY