Episode Summary

Podcast: New Books Network

Host: New Books (Jue Liang, Case Western Reserve University)

Guest: Dr. Sara Ann Swenson

Book: Near Light We Shine: Buddhist Charity in Urban Vietnam (Oxford UP, 2025)

Date: January 15, 2026

Overview of the Episode

This episode features an interview with Dr. Sara Ann Swenson, Assistant Professor of Religion at Dartmouth College, on her new ethnography Near Light We Shine: Buddhist Charity in Urban Vietnam. Dr. Swenson discusses her intellectual journey, fieldwork experiences, and the multitude of grassroots Buddhist charitable practices in southern Vietnam. The conversation explores how charity in this urban context is shaped by gender, class, sexuality, and Vietnam’s religious and political histories. Special attention is given to how Vietnamese Buddhist charity challenges dominant frameworks in religious studies, and how diverse volunteers negotiate belonging, authenticity, and ethics in a rapidly changing society.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Intellectual Biography & Motivation

• Religious Upbringing & Miracles:
  Dr. Swenson describes growing up with a Christian minister father, in rural Minnesota where miracles and “church grandmas” played a central community-building role.

  "Christianity was not just a way to see the world, but the way to see the world...I grew up in this context where miracles were possible and religion was something that had this strong transformative potential." (04:18)

• Encounter with Buddhism:
  Her high school introduction to the work of Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist, catalyzed her interest in Buddhist social action.

2. Path to Fieldwork in Vietnam

• Language & Entry into Community:
  Began learning Vietnamese in the US and through connections at a Denver monastery. First entry into Vietnam was facilitated by a tattoo artist, which challenged her expectations of Buddhist practitioners.
• Serendipity & Fieldwork Focus:

  "If you want to understand Buddhism today, you have to understand charity. And that's how my book started, is really by this kind of luck and enthusiasm and meeting a lot of people who were just doing this work at the grassroots level." (09:22)

3. Theoretical Frameworks & Diversity in Vietnamese Buddhism

• Internal Diversity:
  Vietnamese Buddhism is internally diverse, blending influences from Mahayana, Theravada, new religious movements, and folk practices.

  "Vietnamese Buddhism features incredible internal diversity...You have practices that come from Pure Land tradition, styles of Zen...modern groups like Hoa Hao and Cao Đài…temples might house an animal deity...All of these temples have their own specialties." (17:39)

• Shift in Policy & Social Role:
  After strict governance post-1975, Doi Moi reforms (mid-90s) led to religious resurgence and new negotiations of Buddhism as heritage, morality, and charity.

4. Charity Practices: Concepts, Tensions, & Community-Building

• Proverb as Title:
  The book’s title references a Vietnamese axiom: “Near ink we darken, near light we shine,” evoking the transformative effect of collective good and moral company.

  "...being around other good people who radiate this light of care, you too, can become brightened and become a source of light and hope in the world." (13:25)

• Intersectionality and Group Diversity:
  Charity groups are differentiated by class, gender, age, and sexuality, each cultivating distinct practices, cosmologies, and senses of belonging.

• Case of Group Splintering:
  The original research site, a tattoo artist-led group, splintered after the organizer came out as queer. The event revealed differing perspectives on authentic giving and inclusivity.

  "With his coming out, some of the volunteers...fell back on some stereotypes about queer men saying, well, you can't possibly make what they saw as a selfish life choice and keep giving and doing charity..." (23:03)

Detailed Segment Highlights

5. The Role of Feeling, Intention, and Merit-Making

• Authenticity and Emotional Quality:
  Vietnamese Buddhist charity considers authentic feeling and intention fundamental, rather than just the material outcome for recipients.

  "Feelings of care, feelings of selflessness were a key way that people demonstrated themselves as people with heart, as good people who wanted to make society better..." (27:33)

• Conflict and Critique:
  Definitions of “good people” vs. “dangerous strangers” lead to both inclusion and exclusion within volunteer groups, often reinforcing or challenging stereotypes related to gender and class.

6. Belonging, Karmic Relations, and Queer Buddhism

• Queer Belonging:
  The Sunshine Volunteer Corps became a haven for young queer men, reframing karmic relationships (“yūin”) and compassion through both sexuality and Buddhist philosophy.

  "[They] turn it into a positive force ... by leading this charity organization. So they're doing some philosophical work...creating a space around queer Buddhism and doing that through charity." (30:28)

• Class Tensions:
  Splintered groups further divided as charity became more formalized and required financial resources, excluding working-class volunteers whose resources were limited.

  "As the group was attracting more and more of this urban, operatively mobile and queer male demographic, that they were also excluding people on a class basis..." (30:28)

7. Event Networks & Spontaneous Altruism

• Event Networks:
  A new framework coined by Swenson for loosely organized, spontaneous charity driven by social media, ad hoc gatherings, and personal stories (e.g., a single mother, Tiham, starting meal giving after personal tragedy).

  "...no one was able to coordinate because it was so subtle and so personal and so word of mouth." (35:53, 39:25)

8. Youth, Urban Change, and Modern Buddhism

• Youth Culture:
  Young, upwardly-mobile Buddhists use volunteerism to counter stereotypes of urban youth as selfish and materialistic, engaging with “modernist” forms of Buddhism and reconnecting with elders.

  "...also a growing interest in Buddhism, but especially a style of Buddhism that is more aligned with secular...psychology, science." (40:17)

9. Charity, Fraud, and Social Tension

• Contestation over Deserving Recipients:
  Frauds, ticket thefts, and fights occurred at charity events, reflecting deeper anxieties about moral decline, rapid urbanization, and economic change.

  "Charity was again, not this kind of friendly, happy place of all do good, positive feelings. But it was really a site where people were grappling with these most deep existential questions..." (44:11)

• Charity Group Responses:
  Some groups emphasize rigorous screening; others stress unconditional giving and trust in karmic processes.

10. Contra-Modernism: Bridging Spirits and Infrastructure

• Bridge of Love Foundation:
  Led by women veterans, this group melds socialist development with Pure Land Buddhist cosmology, invoking spiritual protection (Avalokiteshvara/Guanyin) for tangible infrastructure projects in the Mekong Delta.

  "...these women are carrying out visions for a communist future of Vietnam that has developmental infrastructure and is also supported by miraculous intervention..." (47:52)

• Contra-Modernism:
  A term borrowed from Casey Collins to describe the interplay of modern state-building and supernatural practice.

11. Social Work and Long-Term Care vs. Event Networks

• Long-Term Engagement:
  The “Cherished Children Fund” supports families affected by HIV/AIDS, building enduring relationships—contrasting with “event network” models favoring one-off, emotionally pure giving.

  "...volunteers...emphasize not staying to talk with or create relationships with recipients...On the flip side...the Cherished Children Fund...creating long term sustained relationships with the families that they're helping over decades..." (53:02)

• Buddhist Philosophy and Practical Care:
  These approaches diverge philosophically: one minimizes karmic entanglement, the other seeks karmic transformation through ongoing commitment.

12. Reflexivity and Researcher Positionality

• Researcher’s Impact on Field:
  Swenson acknowledges her influence as both an observer and inadvertent participant, as groups reconfigured around her presence and social media connections.

  "I had this crisis of at one point of like, how can I claim to do any level of objective research if the charity groups I'm supposedly studying are also being created through my own Facebook page...We always affect the communities we're a part of." (56:15)

• Invitation to Reader as Theorist:
  Swenson invokes bell hooks, framing all people as theorists in their own lives and encouraging readers to reflect on their own “theories” of care and community.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the book’s metaphorical title:

  "Being around other good people who radiate this light of care, you too, can become brightened and become a source of light and hope in the world." (13:25)

• On intersectional community-making:

  "Charity is this flashpoint for people striving to create social change in the midst of rapid urbanization." (34:52)

• On social media and event networks:

  "...no one was able to coordinate because it was so subtle and so personal and so word of mouth." (39:25)

• On contra-modernism and spiritual infrastructure:

  "...these women are carrying out visions for a communist future of Vietnam that has developmental infrastructure and is also supported by miraculous intervention by supernatural figures like Guanyin." (47:52)

• On research reflexivity:

  "The very types of questions we ask shape the types of answers people give. And so I tried to be very transparent about that in my research process and in my writing." (56:15)

• On inviting the reader’s theorizing:

  "All people are theorists just to get through the day...I hope that it also inspires you to stop and think about what your own theory is and who you are in the world as a theorist, in response and in relationship to the people that you're reading about." (59:10)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [04:18] Swenson’s intellectual background & personal-institutional influences
• [09:22] Entry into Vietnamese fieldwork, challenges of studying urban charity
• [13:25] Title explanation & Vietnamese axioms; moral aspirations
• [17:39] Overview of Buddhist diversity in Vietnam
• [23:03] Case of tattoo artist and group split (class, sexuality, belonging)
• [27:33] Role of feeling, selflessness, and ethical intention
• [30:28] Queer belonging and karmic relations in charity
• [35:53] Spontaneous event networks and their challenges
• [40:17] Urban youth, modern Buddhism, generational tension
• [44:11] Charity, fraud, deservingness, and reputational risk
• [47:52] Contra-modernism and spiritualized infrastructure
• [53:02] Long-term care vs. event network models; Buddhist social work
• [56:15] Methodological reflexivity and researcher's positionality
• [59:10] Conclusion and reader as “theorist”; invitation to reflection
• [60:20] Future research: wellness, well-being, and post-Covid transitions

Conclusion

This in-depth episode reveals how Dr. Swenson’s ethnography on Buddhist charity in Vietnam upends assumptions about both Buddhism and charitable action. Through rich stories and thoughtful theoretical insight, the episode uncovers: the diversity and adaptability of Vietnamese Buddhism; the complex, lived realities of “doing good” amid urban migration, economic reforms, and policy shifts; the intersections of gender, sexuality, class, and cosmology; and the researcher’s own embeddedness in the field. Ultimately, the conversation redefines Buddhist charity not as a monolith or a mechanism for moral self-perfection, but as a fluid, contested, and socially generative process—one that invites each listener to reflect on their own theories and practices of care.