Background Epidemiological data suggest that national levels of alcohol consumption have increased rapidly in contemporary Vietnam; concomitantly, social and public health harms associated with alcohol use are on the rise. Methods Over the last decade, a research literature on alcohol use in Vietnam has begun to develop. Results A consideration of this literature indicates lines of analysis to be extended and gaps to be filled. Conclusion This synopsis provides an overview of the major trends that studies have addressed, evaluates the state of research to date, and suggests avenues for further research on alcohol use in this newly middle-income nation.

A specter is haunting the academy: the figure of the ghostly, the phantasmic, and the unquiet dead. Over the last fifteen years, a large and rapidly growing number of works in diverse disciplines-sociology, 1 psychoanalysis, 2 literary criticism, 3 folklore, 4 cultural studies, 5 postcolonial studies, 6 race and gender studies, 7 geography, 8 media studies, and communication and rhetoric 9 -have sought to reinterpret stories of haunting as the return of traumatic memory. Within such work, ghosts manifest not as terrifying revenants, but as welcome, if disquieting spurs to consciousness and calls for political action.Most immediately, this interdisciplinary interest in ghosts was sparked by Jacques Derrida's Specters of Marx (1993), a curious book that combines a profession of faith (i.e., the messianic spirit of Marxism still holds promise, 1

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Many countries that see themselves as distinctive have handled the pandemic badly.

In October 2007, a series of cholera epidemics broke out in Hanoi, interrupting a moment of economic triumphalism in post-transition Vietnam. In seeking the source of a refractory disease associated with poverty and underdevelopment, officials, media, and citizens not only identified scapegoats and proposed solutions, they also endorsed particular visions of moral conduct, social order, and public health. Controversy over cholera, a potent politico-moral symbol, expressed an imaginary of "tainted commons" (i.e., an emergent space of civil society and small-scale entrepreneurship from which the state has partially withdrawn, while still exercising some measure of scrutiny and control). The ambiguities of this situation permitted the state to assume moral postures, evade responsibility, and deflect criticism to convenient targets. Prevalent outbreak narratives thus played on anxieties regarding specifically classed and gendered social groups, whose behavior was imagined to contravene ideals of public health and order.

This article addresses the conduct of qualitative research regarding sensitive or stigmatizing topics with military populations, and provides suggestions for implementing culturally responsive and effective data collection with these groups. Given high rates of underreporting of sensitive and stigmatizing conditions in the military, qualitative methods have potential to shed light on phenomena that are not well understood. Drawing on a study of U.S. Army National Guard personnel by civilian anthropologists, we present lessons learned and argue that the value of similar studies can be maximized by culturally responsive research design.

In this era of industry deregulation, gutting of environmental protections, and science denial, environmental justice applied anthropology is more important than ever. There is growing ethnographic research into the ways people organize themselves and take action to protect their families and communities from toxins while demanding accountability from polluting industries and the state. When students encounter this literature in university curricula and when service-learning projects are part of coursework, the experiences they gain can inform their personal lives long after the semester ends. Five anthropologists share experiences teaching environmental justice ethnography courses. Their pedagogy addresses critical questions of ethical research and student positionality.

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