Imagining the Global

...an NW5C initiative 2014–15

Not a Drop to Drink: Mekong Delta

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This is a series of posts from my three month studies and travels across Vietnam. Basing out of Hồ Chí Minh City, I’ll spend a few weeks traveling, learning tiếng Việt, and exploring a nation on the opposite side of the world from home. The following is a sort of journal entry, reflecting my experience in visiting […]

Vendor genders and nap-time at the market.

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  When thinking about going to some Markets around the city, I became interested in observing patterns of gender among various sections of the market. I assumed the people selling goods would be about half male and half female, but maybe separated some depending on which goods are being sold by that person. I planned […]

Observational Study: Children of the Markets

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During my time in Thi Nghe and Tan Dinh Market I observed the role children and young teens held in the businesses and layout of the space. Child labor is an interesting concept in Asia because education is sometimes seen as a luxury rather than a necessity to children and families. What are the children […]

A Child’s Playground Amidst Crowded Aisles and Smelly Fish

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Without knowing what to expect, I wandered into the market feeling venerable with only a few guiding questions: What roles do children play in the marketplace? Are they helping their parents with small and simple tasks, are they there simply because that’s where their parents are and they don’t do anything in particular, or are […]

Observing Age in Ho Chi Minh City Markets

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The two articles that we read on food buying habits in Vietnam, one in Hanoi and one in Saigon, both discussed the rise of supermarkets and how that has been and may continue to effect markets and everyone involved in sales there. From this information I formed a research question from which to do an […]

Markets in Vietnam: Avoiding the trap

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Even with the endless array of things to buy in markets, I find that purchasing items in Ho Chi Minh City is incredibly stressful and overwhelming. Vendors have cramped stalls from trying to fit so many products in such a small space. Furthermore, there are always several stalls inches away from each other, all selling […]

Sussing out Sales Tactics in Saigon

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Here is my post where I studied the different tactics of vendors in Chợ Tân Định market and Chợ Thị Nghè market. I want to see if the tactics were different depending on what goods the vendor was selling. I thought that vendors that were selling non-necessary goods would push their goods harder since often their sales […]

Markets and more (mostly more)

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“Perhaps 2:30 is not the best time to visit a market” I mused, grinning as I passed my 18th napping shopkeeper. This was our first outing into the realm of observational study in Vietnam. Meant, as all first outings are, to demonstrate the ‘challenges inherent to the research process’ and to force us to refine […]