Asia

There’s a Word for That

Can language describe everything we feel—and should it?

  • James D. Reich

A Worldmaking Plant

Following the agave trade exposes the roots of solidarity across empires.

  • Michelle Ha

The Power of the Party

Founded a century ago, the Chinese Communist Party has repeatedly defied predictions of its demise.

  • Macabe Keliher

The Violent Embrace

The Atlanta shooter comes from a culture that connects Asian women to sex and violence. It has its origins in U.S. wars—particularly the Korean War—and is fueled by our continued military presence in Asia.

  • Jessie Kindig

The Law Ought to Be King

Thailand has been gripped by the largest wave of protest in years, forcing a reckoning between the country’s dual structures of democracy and monarchy.

  • Peera Songkünnatham

When Quotas Come Up Short

Some gender equality initiatives help to reinforce exclusion rather than dismantle it.

  • Marie E. Berry
  • Milli Lake

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Neoliberal Hong Kong Is Our Future, Too

Economists lionize the city as the ideal free market, but the social consequences have been disastrous.

  • Macabe Keliher

What We Can Learn From India’s Improbable Democracy

Though Modi’s government draws concern today, the country’s constitutional history suggests a framework for creating democracy in unlikely settings.

  • Ashutosh Varshney

The Racist Foundation of Nuclear Architecture

On the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, it is clear that white supremacy sustains the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

  • Elaine Scarry

No, Autocracies Aren’t Better for Public Health

Some have praised China’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but its suppression of information helped cause the problem in the first place.

  • Yasheng Huang

Uncivil Disobedience in Hong Kong

The protests have been critiqued for their rejection of classic nonviolence—but that may help explain why they has been so successful.

  • Candice Delmas

How to Think About Empire

An interview with Arundhati Roy on censorship, storytelling, and her problem with the term “postcolonialism.”

  • Arundhati Roy
  • Avni Sejpal

Erdogan’s Ottomania

In a bid to consolidate power, Erdoğan is reshaping Turkish politics in the image of the Ottoman past.

  • M. Hakan Yavuz

Peace Regimes

Trump has promised a Korean “peace regime.” But whose peace is being insured? And who is subject to its imposition? 

  • Jessie Kindig

No Eulogy for the Living

An open letter to the Philippines.

  • Miguel Syjuco

Writing While Socialist

Vijay Prashad on writing, struggle, and hope in difficult times.

  • Vijay Prashad
  • Mark Nowak

How to Avoid War with North Korea

As Trump tweets us closer to war, a look back at North Korean nationalism may provide an out.

  • Odd Arne Westad

Unreliable Witnesses

From scrapbooks to family albums, a new book presents their visual testimonies from Kashmir.

  • Suchitra Vijayan

Ants Among Elephants

Sujatha Gidla, born an untouchable in India, tells the story of her family.

  • Sujatha Gidla

Grassroots Isn’t Always Best

Community development and its woes.

  • Merlin Chowkwanyun

Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement

One of the largest peaceful protest movements in recent world history.

  • Guobin Yang
  • Ran Liu

Islam’s Abortion Debate

Islamic jurisprudence does not encourage abortion, but unlike the Catholic Church, it does not absolutely forbid it.

  • Tom Hundley

Burning China’s Garbage

Protests against a new waste management system signals a turning point in Chinese environmentalism.

  • Sarah Hill

Architecture in Extremis

Shigeru Ban receives the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Does he deserve it?

  • Stephen Phelan
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