East Asia’s Yuan Empire (1271–1368), led by the nomadic Mongol people and Qubilai Khan (1215–1294), was marked by cross-cultural exchange and significant developments in trade, technology, and infrastructure. The Mongol visual culture, however, has often been ignored or dismissed as insignificant in the operations of the Mongols’ own empire. The Woven Image: The Making of…
A poignant debut novel that explores mother-son relationships, cross-cultural conversations, and the tribulations of getting older. Chitra Demands to Go Home tells the story of Chitra, a 75-year-old Bengali woman who feels trapped in an assisted living facility and just wants to go home. Chitra spent her life taking care of her children and her husband…
Rashmy writes poetry in a Tamil unique to the East Coast of Sri Lanka, embedded in its ecologies and heavily influenced by its folklore, centuries of trade, and echoes of Qur’anic cadence. His work is both archive and testimony, making him one of the most significant contemporary poets of in the Tamil language. In Songs…
It’s almost time for Miya’s favorite holiday, the Mid-Autumn Festival. She loves all the holiday traditions: moon gazing, lighting lanterns, and best of all, baking and eating mooncakes! But after an incident, Miya’s father seems to have lost a little of the holiday spirit. Miya has an idea to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in a…
In The Transpacific Chinese Diaspora, Chen examines the origins, rise, and reform of the Cantonese-dominated Chinese diaspora in Canada between 1788 and 1898. Combining a diasporic approach with both qualitative and quantitative analyses of Chinese and English documents, including previously untapped archival records of secret societies, community organizations, and family businesses, this book reveals the…
What motivates individuals to stand up against injustices that don’t personally affect them? Becoming Allies explores a vital but often overlooked dimension of social movements: the role of those who support a cause without being directly affected by its injustices. While most scholarship centres the conflict between social movements and the State, this book shifts…
Lahore After Modernism is a pioneering study of architecture and the politics of construction, destruction and conservation in urban Pakistan. In the decades after independence in 1947, architects in Pakistan were enlisted to build a postcolonial future—a new world after empire. But the debris of the past could not be so easily swept aside. The…
Roma has a steady job, a mortgage, and a surrogate family in Queens. But as she moves through her daily routines, the powerful Empire that rules her world bares its teeth elsewhere—crushing freedom movements across the planet, including the Punjabi farmers’ uprising where her younger brother struggles on the frontlines. Roma’s life is upended when…
High Lands, Pure Earth foregrounds Tibetan experiences of urban transitions in China’s late-reform period. In the 21st century, China’s accelerated urbanization has transformed the Tibetan Plateau. Yet Tibetan urban experiences continue to be profoundly shaped by senses of being in the world that long predate Tibet’s inclusion into the modern Chinese nation-state. Eveline Washul adopts…
In the past decade, Korean entertainment has gained global recognition, with Korean movies and TV shows winning Oscars and Emmys, and K-Pop groups becoming wildly popular. In Manhattan, Koreatown has become a popular destination for both locals and tourists, drawing them in with its bars, restaurants, and day spas. Jinwon Kim argues that Manhattan’s Koreatown…
Thinking of leaving the country? Does the life of a digital nomad beckon to you? Suzanne Kamata has been there, done that, and is still doing it. Living in Japan for most of her adult life, she has a husband, two children, and a string of books to her credit. Her latest, Owls in the…
Can food determine your fate? Could indulging in delicacies bring calamity to your community? Joshua Schlachet’s Nourishing Life reevaluates the history of Japanese food culture by examining how ideas of healthy eating became both a popular phenomenon and a matter of grave concern among trained medical experts and amateur culinary enthusiasts alike. Beginning in the…
Mantras of the Moon is a luminous collection of poems born from the desire to explore the self, memory, and Indian heritage. These poems weave together psychology, mythology, desire, and divine destinations from Murshidabad’s museums to the quiet radiance of Saraswati Pujo. Inspired by the encouragement of editors and strengthened by love, this book is…
Torikaebaya Monogatari is a twelfth-century Japanese tale like no other. As suggested by its title, which literally translates to “if only I could exchange them” (torikaebaya) “story” (monogatari), it follows the complications that arise when a nobleman has his two children swap genders—his son living as a woman, and his daughter living as a man….
Lavishly illustrated, Samurai explores the reality and myths of the samurai from medieval times to today’s popular culture through objects from international collections. Essays by scholars throughout the book discuss the warrior class’s historical origins in the medieval period’s civil wars and stories they told of their own achievements. Although the samurai social class was…