The expanding use of money in contemporary Vietnam has been propelled by
the rise of new markets, digital telecommunications, and an ideological
emphasis on money's autonomy from the state. People in Vietnam use the
metaphor of "open doors" to describe their everyday experiences of
market liberalization and to designate the end of Vietnam's postwar
social isolation and return to a consumer- oriented environment.
Dreaming of Money in Ho Chi Minh City examines how money is redefining
social identities, moral economies, and economic citizenship in Vietnam.
It shows how people use money as a standard of value to measure social
and moral worth, how money is used to create new hierarchies of
privilege and to limit freedom, and how both domestic and global
monetary politics affect the cultural politics of identity in Vietnam.
Drawing on interviews with shopkeepers, bankers, vendors, and foreign
investors, Allison Truitt explores the function of money in everyday
life. From counterfeit currencies to streetside lotteries, from gold
shops to crowded temples, she relates money's restructuring to
performances of identity. By locating money in domains often relegated
to the margins of the economy-households, religion, and gender- she
demonstrates how money is shaping ordinary people's sense of belonging
and citizenship in Vietnam.