Ecologies of Coffee Sustainability in the Central Highlands

Ecologies of sustainability and recent narratives about climate change in the Vietnamese coffee industry illuminate how the environment is imagined in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam. This environment has a complex history, commingling with ongoing controversies over land use, resource extraction, agricultural production, ethnic minority livelihoods, and state/international development projects. Examining the Vietnamese coffee industry and questions of sustainability, Vietnamese environmental writing, and creative works, this essay surveys the ecology of coffee sustainability as it shapes and is shaped by the way coffee communities interact with their environment and perceive climate change-related realities. This essay also addresses questions of environmental writing and creative works in Vietnam as both mode of resistance to globalization and environmentally destructive agricultural development practices and as a project of nation-building that seeks to unite the state and coffee farming communities, especially as coffee is positioned aesthetically and culturally through local and national branding initiatives.