Entangled, unraveled, and reconfigured: Human–animal relations among ethnic minority farmers and water buffalo in the northern uplands of Vietnam

Abstract

In the rural rice fields of upland northern Vietnam, Hmong and Yao ethnic minority farmers have been relationally “entangled” with a number of domesticated animal species to secure semi-subsistence livelihoods. Among these different inter-species entanglements, the relationships between farmers and water buffalo are the most profound. However, in recent years, the broader, contextual factors that shape the entanglements between farmers and water buffalo have been changing rapidly, provoked primarily by increasing extreme weather events, government-supported market integration, and rising land constraints. As these environmental, political, and socioeconomic factors have intensified, the complexity and persistence of long-standing entanglements between farmers and water buffalo appear to be diminishing. We offer a new conceptual perspective to the entanglement literature in this regard, suggesting that “unraveling” might best represent these processes. Nonetheless, we present the idea of “resistant” entanglements to indicate how many farmers have halted unraveling processes, while we posit a future of “reconfigured” entanglements, increasingly based on market forces. Drawing from in-depth ethnographic fieldwork with ethnic minority farmers, we analyze the changing characteristics of these farmer–buffalo entanglements, as well as a range of related socioeconomic and cultural consequences.

Fragrant Frontier: Global Spice Entanglements from the Sino-Vietnamese Uplands

“…Since 2015, 11 per cent of farmers have begun to breed buffalo with the intention of selling them. This marks an important change from the roles water buffalo have traditionally played in ethnic minority upland livelihoods, being customarily traded only in times of great emergency (Garber, 2021). In 2018, the price of a buffalo ranged from VND11,000,000-23,000,000 [USD473-989], with health, size, and age, as well as the bargaining prowess of the buyer or seller, determining specific prices.…”

“…Four-fifths of these households began trading in 2015-16, when the most extreme weather events devastated their cardamom harvests, while only one-fifth had engaged in such activities before the mid-2010s. Since 2015, district-level DARD and Kf W8 project staff have encouraged cold-water trout breeding in newly constructed household fishponds (LCPC, 2015;; see also Garber, 2021). While only four per cent of households practised aquaculture, several additional farmers conveyed their interest in constructing fishponds using funds from future black cardamom harvests and wage labour.…”