The academic study of Buddhism is a critical part of the humanities, with a history dating to the 19th century. Eugène Burnouf (1801–52) is often credited as the informal founder of the discipline. The study of Buddhism as a central spiritual, cultural, and historical phenomenon of humanity’s inheritance has long been an interest of The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global. One of the longest-running partners with the foundation has been the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), which advances the cause and financial support of the humanities and social sciences. Its secondary mission is to strengthen relationships between national societies supporting humanistic studies.
It has been more than 10 years since The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies was launched. In August, I spoke with Dr. Deena Ragavan, director of International Programs, about how, after its 10th anniversary, the program has evolved according to the needs of scholars in an increasingly uncertain world for humanities programs at universities.
BDG: Compared with when ACLS first began working with the foundation in awarding grants to Buddhist studies scholars, what are some general priorities that have shifted?
Deena Ragavan: In the early years of The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies (2013–16), ACLS primarily administered fellowship and grant competitions aimed at supporting scholars across the full range of career stages: dissertation research and writing, early postdoctoral research and teaching (residential fellowships), mid- and senior-level research, writing and translation, (collaborative fellowships), and teaching at the senior level (distinguished visiting professorships).
Over the past decade, the program has shifted to a greater focus on supporting early career scholars. Often scholars of Buddhist studies—like many other fields—find themselves in positions of increasing precarity within higher education due to a shrinking academic job market as well as challenges brought on by the pandemic. The program has expanded not only financial support for these scholars—four of the five competitions benefit pre-tenure and independent scholars to some extent—but also through social and academic supports: a dissertation seminar to provide graduate students with collegial feedback on their projects; a manuscript development workshop to help early career scholars prepare their first book.
Now, we are excited to launch a new publication series that will prioritize first books from scholars whose research has been supported by the program. With all these activities, our goal is to help early career scholars, particularly independent scholars, establish themselves in the field and succeed in their academic and other career goals, whether becoming a tenured professor or museum curator.
ACLS has also shifted program activities to enhance network-building and collaboration. We bring together scholars, fellows, and prospective applicants in virtual communities such as Facebook and other social media platforms, as well as in-person through the introduction of annual retreats and workshops. These meetings connect senior scholars with emerging Dissertation and Early Career Fellows to build strong mentoring relationships. As a global program that accepts applications regardless of citizenship, residence, or location of work proposed, these initiatives contribute to a growing, international community of Buddhist studies scholars, who strive to strengthen the field through opportunities for collaboration and knowledge-sharing across disciplines, cultures, and countries.
In keeping with the Ho Foundation’s commitment to “Buddhism in the World,” ACLS established a new focus on publicly engaged scholarship through the Buddhism Public Scholars program in 2021. This program appoints recent PhDs to professional positions at host institutions, such as museums, libraries, and publications, that present and interpret knowledge of Buddhist traditions. We have placed 10 scholars to date, and at least two are moving into permanent positions in their new career fields. The success of this program certainly holds an auspicious beginning—the first cohort of four scholars are only finishing their fellowship terms now, in August 2024.
We look forward to enhancing and expanding upon this work as we explore new opportunities to support collaborative and community-engaged research going forward.
BDG: Junior and independent scholars now claim a larger share of support. How do you balance the newer intakes, who perhaps naturally need more of a leg up, with the continued value of output by veteran or more established applicants?
DR: While the majority of the awards and program activities focus on support for untenured scholars, we continue to support scholarship from tenured scholars through the Translation Grant program, which is open to individuals and collaborative teams encompassing junior, independent, and senior scholars alike. Although this program will be redesigned in the coming year, we anticipate keeping it open to scholars working at all career stages.
ACLS continuously engages with mid-career and senior scholars through the peer review process, as well as program workshops, convenings, and consultations. The program has become so well-established that ACLS is now inviting tenured recipients of Dissertation and Early Career Fellowships from the first years of the program to take part in the review and evaluation of current fellowship applications. Through participation in the program, these established scholars are able to provide feedback and input into future directions for the field while also learning about new work and innovations, establishing an important bridge between the generations. In this way, our reviewers, mentors, and now established fellows remain important members of our community of Buddhist studies scholars.
BDG: Buddhist studies remains an academic field of limited exposure and interest. How does ACLS bring findings in Buddhist studies to broader awareness and utility among the public, and does it tap into any larger conversations, such as eco-Buddhism, mindfulness, or cultural preservation?
DR: ACLS actively encourages all fellows and grantees to help advance our mission to bring humanistic scholarship to broader audiences through participation in public humanities activities during their award term and beyond. In the Buddhist studies program, ACLS is firmly committed to the idea that the academic study of Buddhism has much to offer both to Buddhist practitioners and to the wider public.
Exceptional examples of these contributions include Sophea Seng’s (F’22) community panel on the Cambodia refugee diaspora at the Museum of Latin American Art, CA; Olivia Porter’s (F’21) podcast series as part of the New Books Network; Laura Lettere (F’20) writing the foreword of the Buddhistdoor Global newsletter; and Catherine Hartmann (F’18) co-writing episodes for the popular YouTube channel Religion for Breakfast, which has more than 860,000 subscribers.
The Buddhism Public Scholars competition is the program’s most direct vehicle for bringing new research and scholarship in Buddhist studies to the public at large. Recent scholars have been placed at organizations including Wisdom Publications, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, the Detroit Institute of Art, and the National Museum of Asian Art, where they have had the opportunity to share their knowledge with the wider public through exhibits, articles, and more. Some examples include the Wisdom of the Goddess online exhibition curated by Hillary Langberg (F’22) and Frederick Ranallo-Higgins’ (F’22) articles at Tricycle.
ACLS has also supported projects that relate to these larger conversations—particularly cultural preservation—dealing with questions on sociality, health, and heritage. Fellow Dendup Chopel (F’23) has written publicly about his project on how Bhutan’s Buddhist response to COVID-19 is rooted in Indigenous models of governance—i.e., how historical Buddhist political practices are used in pandemic responses—or Anna Sehnalova’s (F’22) work on tantric healing practices with botany and medicine, which will be discussed in a forthcoming interview with the Bonpo magazine Speech of Delight. Ranallo-Higgins has written a number of public articles on connecting modern Western Buddhism to its Asian roots and has brought Western readers to lesser-known Asian Buddhist figures such as Kiyozawa Manshi.
BDG: You mention a bigger emphasis on working with Asian scholars and Asian institutions as one of the recent refinements. How has this changed or improved ACLS’s collaboration with the relevant Asian universities—and are any of these institutions Buddhist universities?
DR: ACLS is committed to making sure the Program in Buddhist Studies represents communities of practice worldwide, with the largest share being in Asia. We engage with scholars based at Asian institutions as both reviewers and awardees.
One of the most exciting examples is that in 2022, Rajamangala University of Technology Krungthep became the first Asian university to receive the New Professorship Grant. The four-year award is helping the university create graduate programs in Buddhist studies that will educate Buddhist monks, nuns, and laity in becoming leaders and innovators in the modern information-based, multicultural, and globalized world. Their programs aim to produce morally grounded and socially engaged Buddhist intellectuals capable of applying research and data for the betterment of Buddhism and society as a whole.
We have also awarded many scholars working at Buddhist universities—primarily through the Translation Grant program (previously Critical Editions and Translations)—including Bukkyo University in Japan (Kazunobu Matsuda), Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in India (Penpa Dorjee), Dongguk University (Hongmi Kim) and Geumgang University in Korea (Youngjin Lee), and Huafan University in Taiwan (Hans Rudolf Kantor).
Beyond Asia, the program is committed to building Buddhist studies across the globe. In 2018, a New Professorship was granted to El Colegio de México in Mexico City. Our annual Early Career Retreat was held there in August, where we saw how transformative positions like this can be for Buddhist studies in Latin America.
In 2023, we increased our outreach to program alumni working and/or studying in Asian universities. We are currently developing strategies to improve collaboration, with the goal of a future program event in Asia.
As we move into the program’s second decade, with a renewed commitment from The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global, we look forward to building on these accomplishments, strengthening our international networks, and uplifting the excellent research conducted by our fellows and grantees so that it reaches broader public awareness.
See more
The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies
Buddhism Public Scholars (ACLS)
Sophea Seng (ACLS)
Community Panel on the Cambodia Refugee Diaspora (Museum of Latin American Art)
Olivia Porter (Museum of Latin American Art)
New Books Network episodes with Olivia Porter (New Books Network)
Laura Lettere (ACLS)
Catherine Hartmann (ACLS)
Religion for Breakfast
The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Buddhism Public Scholars
Wisdom Publications
Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
Detroit Institute of Art
National Museum of Asian Art
Wisdom of the Goddess (National Museum of Asian Art)
Frederick Ranallo-Higgins (Tricycle)
Dendup Chophel (ACLS)
Poeisis of Co-Existence: Bridging ‘Orientational’ Divide in a Bhutanese Village (CAS-E)
Anna Sehnalova (ACLS)
Putting Spirituality First (Tricycle)
New Professorship Grant (ACLS)
Kazunobu Matsuda (ACLS)
Penpa Dorjee (ACLS)
Hongmi Kim (ACLS)
Youngjin Lee (ACLS)
Hans Rudolf Kantor (ACLS)
The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global
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