Democracy and Institutions

In this article, Mara Bolis presents the argument for private universities to defend intersectional gender studies from new laws restricting discussions of gender, race, sexuality, inequality and even American history at public institutions.

I spent the last few days in Perugia, Italy, where I attended the 2023 International Journalism Festival. Such events are not places where journalism happens. They are aberrations, but they let journalists unwind, exchange views openly, and think big. One of the big issues discussed at the festival was AI. Advancements in AI technology are […]

Marijuana is both a widely used medicinal depressant and recreational drug in the twenty-first century. Older and younger people alike are drawn to the natural psychoactive drug, making it near-impossible to live in a major city without catching a whiff of its pungent, sulfurous perfume. However, with its spread into modern culture and widespread legalization […]

This piece was published in the 33rd digital volume of the Asian American Policy Review. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. AAPR: Can you tell us a bit about your book Permission to Come Home and the inspiration behind it? WANG: The inspiration for my work came from the realization, through the […]

The basis of [my documentary, BAD AXE] is my family—we’re Cambodian-Mexican-American. We live in this rural white community, and it’s us trying to keep our family restaurant alive and the American Dream alive during one of the most uncertain times in history amidst a pandemic, a racial reckoning, and everything else going on in our country in 2020. So it becomes a story that explores the question: how do you keep the American Dream alive today when it’s being challenged now more than ever?

If my previous identity query was grounded on, and perhaps confined by, this dualistic tension between Korea and America, the idea of diaspora liberated me from a geographic grounding of identity. It was a membership not only in the Korean or Korean American community but also in these larger sojourner communities around the world who share, no matter how remote or accurate, collective memories of the homeland, heritage and history. 

Throughout this spring of 2023, the world is witnessing a global surge in COVID cases, driven by variants of the virus such as the XBB.1.16 strain in India and the XBB.1.15 in the United States.1 The COVID crisis has glaringly underscored the need for nation states to prepare for the advent of global pandemics. Lockdowns […]

One decade on, it is essential to revisit the 2012 attack on the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin–and to reflect on what more we must do to better protect our communities from similar horrific violence.

I consider the San Gabriel Valley (SGV) an Asian melting pot. Growing up here meant that you were surrounded by the best Asian food (you would know when it was really good if the restaurant took cash only), boba was life, and your parents were most likely immigrants. For me and my friends, being a child of immigrants entailed silently dealing with being interpreters for our parents. I can’t tell you the countless times my mom pushed the phone to my ear out of nowhere to carry on a conversation with the cable company or to translate school flyers, even when she always had the Korean-English dictionary on hand. As I grew older, translating written material got more complex.

Ghana’s Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, addressed the African Development Conference organized by Harvard Kennedy School’s Africa Caucus and Harvard Law Students Association in Cambridge,Massachusetts, emphasizing the importance of Africa charting its own course towards a more prosperous and inclusive future. The conference’s theme, “Reimagining Africa’s growth on our terms,” was described as timely and […]

Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Tadeous Chifamba, recently spoke with the Africa Policy Journal in an exclusive interview, discussing various issues related to Africa’s relationships with superpowers. Ambassador Chifamba emphasized the importance of Africa being seen as an equal partner, rather than prey, and having a seat at the table. The interview was […]

In 2019, Zach Moore was a new software engineer at a San Francisco-based tech company. He showed up to work early, walked around the neighborhood, and cleared his head. Incarcerated at age 15, Zach learned how to quiet his mind while spending 22 years in prison. For decades, he worked on himself and helped others […]