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Near Light We Shine explores the growth of grassroots charity movements in Vietnam. Volunteers promote altruism by citing the Buddhist proverb, "What is near ink, darkens; what is near light, shines", and this book traces how Buddhism directly affects and inspires these widespread yet relatively small-scale grassroots charity movements.
List of contents
- Preface: The Way of Virtue
- Introduction: Many Buddhisms, Many Vietnams
- Chapter One: Good People and Dangerous Strangers
- Chapter Two: Belonging, Precarious and Queer
- Chapter Three: Charity Event-Networks
- Chapter Four: An Alternate Youth Culture
- Chapter Five: Fraud at the Children's Festival
- Chapter Six: Building a Socialist-Buddhist Nation
- Chapter Seven: Taking a Stance through Grassroots Social Work
- Conclusion: The Affective Politics of Giving
- Appendix 1: Charity Groups (in Order of Appearance)
- Appendix 2: People (By Group)
About the author
Sara Ann Swenson is an Assistant Professor in Religion at Dartmouth College. She researches contemporary Buddhism in Vietnam. She holds a PhD and MPhil in Religion from Syracuse University, an MA in Comparative Religion from Iliff School of Theology, and a BA in English from the University of Minnesota Duluth.
