Prof. Dr. Minh Nguyen

Growing up in the northern Vietnamese town of Thai Binh, I embarked on a transnational life in the early 2000s following a period working in international development after college. I attended the University of Queensland, Australia for an MA degree, lived in Berlin for several years to earn a diploma in the German language, and completed my PhD on Social Research in International Development at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. Before joining the Faculty of Sociology in early 2018, I was based at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle (Saale), Germany for more than six years.

My research lies at the intersection between social anthropology and international development. Of particular interest to me are issues of care and welfare, migration and mobility, and gender and class in East and Southeast Asia, especially in Vietnam and China. The use of ethnographic research has been central to my understanding of how people experience and act on processes of change and real-world problems in their political, social, and moral contexts. At the same time with exposing the multilayer of power relations and social inequalities, my works reveal the resilience and creativity of those at the margin of the national, regional and global economies whose actions have helped to form social, moral and economic networks that are central to the functioning of these economies.

Ich bin in der nordvietnamesischen Stadt Thai Binh aufgewachsen und habe ein transnationales Leben in den frühen 2000ern begonnen, nachdem ich einige Zeit nach dem Studium in internationaler Entwicklung gearbeitet habe. Ich habe meinen Masterabschluss an der University of Queensland, Australien, erworben, lebte mehrere Jahre in Berlin, um ein Diplom der deutschen Sprache zu erwerben, und vervollständigte meinen PhD zu sozialer Forschung an der University of East Anglia, Großbritannien, im Bereich Internationale Entwicklung. Bevor ich der Fakultät für Soziologie zu Beginn des Jahres 2018 beitrat, arbeitete ich im Max-Planck-Institut für Sozialanthropologie in Halle (Saale) für sechs Jahre.

Mein Forschungsschwerpunkt liegt im Schnittpunkt zwischen Sozialanthropologie und internationaler Entwicklung. Von besonderem Interesse sind für mich die Themen Fürsorge und Wohlfahrt, Migration und Mobilität und Gender und Klasse in Ost- und Südostasien, besonders in Vietnam und China. Der Nutzen von ethnographischer Forschung ist zentral für mein Verständnis davon, wie Menschen Veränderungsprozesse und Probleme der realen Welt in ihren politischen, sozialen und moralischen Kontexten erleben und auf sie reagieren. Gleichzeitig enthüllen meine Arbeiten, die die Mehrschichtigkeit von Machtverhältnissen und sozialen Ungleichheiten beleuchten, die Resilienz und Kreativität derer, die sich am Rand der nationalen, regionalen und globalen Wirtschaften befinden und deren Handlungen dazu beitragen, soziale, moralische und ökonomische Netzwerke zu bilden, die zentral sind für das Funktionieren dieser Wirtschaften.

EDUCATION:

2007-2011
PhD Degree on Social Research in International Development, University of East Anglia,
UK.

2002-2003
Master of Social Planning and Development, School of Social Science, University of
Queensland, Australia (with distinction)

1999-2000
Matriculation in BA Sociology, Vietnam National University

1994-1998
BA English Studies, Vietnam National University, Vietnam

CURRENT POSITIONS:

Professor of Social Anthropology, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany
Visiting Professor, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University in Hanoi

PREVIOUS POSITIONS:

2011-2017
Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Research Associate, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany
External Lecturer, Martin Luther University, Halle/Saale, Germany

2007-2011
Postgraduate Researcher, School of International Development and International Development Centre UEA, University of East Anglia

FIELDWORK:

Nam Dinh, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Nghe An (Vietnam)
Yunnan, Zhejiang (China)

SCHOLARSHIPS AND GRANTS:

2019-2024
European Research Council Starting Grant (ERC)

2018-2019
Conference Grant, Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZIF), Bielefeld University

2007- 2011
University of East Anglia - Tuition sponsorship for the PhD Degree

2010
Brown University, Brown International Advanced Research Institutes, fully funded place at the Development and Inequality in the Global South Institute (declined)

2008
Philip Reckitt Trust, UK - PhD fieldwork travel grant

2002-2003
University of Queensland - Full scholarship for Masters' Degree

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP:

Vietnam Studies Group
European Association of Social Anthropologists;
American Anthropological Association
European Association of Southeast Asian Studies
Association of Asian Studies

REVIEWS AND EXAMINATIONS:

Journals
Anthropological Theory, American Ethnologist, American Anthropologist, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Men and Masculinities, Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, Climate Policy, Third World Quarterly, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Asian Population Studies, Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Canadian Journal of Anthropology, Development and Change; Journal of Vietnamese Studies; Pacific Affairs; Journal of Economic Anthropology, China Review

Institutions
University of Vienna, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), Irish Research Council, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Central European University, University of Leeds, Lund University, Free University Berlin, European Research Council, Cornell University Press, Berghahn Books, Finnish Academy of Social Science