Abstract
This article describes expressions and evolutions of development anthropology in Vietnam. We analyze relationships between development anthropology and the central powers, from the beginnings of anthropology in the 19th century up to the contemporary period. Under various regimes, anthropology has been put to work for the State and development, so that development anthropology as applied research largely dominates, to the detriment of a more critical and reflective academic anthropology of development. Our historical overview situates the different positions of Vietnamese anthropologists in relation to ideal-typical positions identified in specialized literature. Between applied anthropology, academic anthropology and engaged anthropology, the discipline is framed by the ideological and financial constraints imposed by both the party-state on the one hand and by NGOs and international development agencies on the other. Some anthropologists still manage to express, in the interstices, more critical positions on development projects and the ideologies behind them.