Macro-level policies frequently transform and reconfigure local livelihood options.
While there is a small but growing body of ethnographic work regarding ethnic minority livelihoods
in Vietnam’s mountainous borderlands, there is far less research examining the state decrees and
policies implemented there and the opinions of state workers who have to apply them. This article
starts to address this gap. First, we examine contemporary Vietnamese state legislation regarding
upland livelihoods. We focus on the directions found in 82 livelihood-related state decrees, examining
their scope and edicts while critiquing what they overlook regarding upland livelihood needs
and approaches. Then, from in-depth interviews with state officials in Hà Giang Province, a
mountainous upland region with a proportionately large ethnic minority population, we explore
the opinions of those charged with the implementation of these decrees. Building on O’Brien’s
earlier work on rightful resistance in China, we suggest that a form of “rightful criticism” has
emerged among upland state officials, allowing us to reveal the contours of political power in
Vietnam’s borderlands. Moreover, we draw attention to the lack of acknowledgement of ethnic
diversity in these uplands within policy and official practice.