In this talk of the Gatty Lecture Series, Sarah G. Grant (Assistant Professor of Anthropology, California State University, Fullerton) traces the emergence of “dirty coffee” in Vietnam across the coffee production and export boom of the 1990-2000s. Grant explores the ways in which industrial coffee production perpetuates food safety scandals while simultaneously maintaining regulatory systems of governance. Drawing upon ethnographic data, she argues that when coffee is subject to the scrutiny of the state, it is part of a dynamic governing logic, ultimately becoming a way for regulatory authorities to perform effective rule while reinforcing the notion that Vietnam produces clean and safe coffee for domestic and global consumption.  

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