This essay discusses the author’s experience doing field work in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, and suggests that the messy entanglements between sand mining, real estate development, and local life afford an analysis that is both situated in and attentive to the global economies of sand. Thinking along the ecological, social, economic, and political dimensions of shifting sands not only challenges systematic analysis; it also affects how we conceive of ourselves as researchers and the responsibility that comes with doing research.