Sara Ann Swenson, "Near Light We Shine: Buddhist Charity in Urban Vietnam" (Oxford UP, 2025)

Jan 15, 2026

Sara Ann Swenson, an Assistant Professor of Religion at Dartmouth College, dives into her groundbreaking book on Buddhist charity in urban Vietnam. She shares her unique path from Christian roots to embracing Vietnamese Buddhism, illuminating grassroots charity initiatives and the complexity of urban volunteering. Swenson discusses the significance of the proverb 'Near Light We Shine,' exploring themes of authenticity and community. She also examines the dynamic interplay of class and gender within charity frameworks, revealing how these efforts counter societal stereotypes.

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ANECDOTE

Tattoo Artist Opens Research Door

Sara Swenson met a tattoo artist in Ho Chi Minh City who became her research entry point into Buddhist charity networks.
That encounter led her to youth volunteers giving food to hospitals and homeless people across the city.

INSIGHT

Proximity As Moral Transformation

The title phrase near light we shine signals that volunteers believe being near good people brightens their own moral life.
Volunteers value proximity to caring communities as a route to belonging and moral transformation.

INSIGHT

Splintering Reveals Charity Diversity

A single charity split revealed how demographic differences shape projects and priorities across groups.
Swenson organized the book around where volunteers went after that split to map diverse charity forms and motivations.

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Sara Swenson is Assistant Professor of Religion and Affiliated Faculty in Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages at Dartmouth College. Her areas of expertise include Religions of Southeast Asia, Buddhism in Vietnam, Gender and Sexuality, Affect Theory, and Ethnography.

She received her Ph.D. in Religion from Syracuse University in 2021. She also holds an M.Phil. in Religion and a Certificate of Advanced Study in Women's and Gender Studies from Syracuse University, an M.A. in Comparative Religion from Iliff School of Theology, and a B.A. in English from the University of Minnesota Duluth.

She pursues projects that highlight the power and agency of everyday people. Religions are often a vital resource for grassroots social action and community engagement, as exemplified by Buddhism in Vietnam. Her projects have received generous grant support from the American Council of Learned Societies; Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship; Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA); and The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Dissertation Fellowship in Buddhist Studies.

Swenson’s new book, Near Light We Shine: Buddhist Charity in Urban Vietnam (Oxford UP, 2025) is one of the first major ethnographic studies on Buddhism in southern Vietnam, featuring new histories and interpretations of this rich subject.

It shares new context for how religious practices affect urban migration, development, and humanitarian concerns, and presents theoretical advancements for understanding grassroots charity. Near Light We Shine offers a diversity of perspectives on grassroots Buddhist practices throughout Vietnam, by featuring interviews that have never been published before from marginalized Buddhist practitioners in Vietnam, such as day laborers, queer men, elderly women, and retired communist soldiers.

References mentioned in the interview:

Le Hoang Anh Thu, "Doing Bodhisattva's Work: Charity, Class, and Selfhood of Petty Traders in Hồ Chí Minh City" here
Nhung Lu Rots, "Towards an Alternative Buddhist Modernity: Hòa Hảo Charity Healing and Herbal Medicine in the Mekong Delta" here
Elizabeth Perez, Religion in the Kitchen here
Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI) at the University of Wisconsin here
Van Nguyen-Marshall, Between War and the State: Civil Society in South Vietnam, 1954–1975 here
Casey R. Collins, Buddhist Contramodernism: Shinnyo-en's Reconfigurations of Tradition for Modernity here

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