Asian Americana

Featured story from “Mid Pacific” podcast: For Chinatowns, Japantowns, K-Towns, and other Asian-American communities in the United States, the only constant these days is change. But our need for cultural connection remains the same. Take a tour with Mid Pacific host Sarah Mizes-Tan to see what these spaces mean today.

For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we’re bringing you an episode from Books & Boba, one of our fellow podcasts from the Potluck Podcast Collective. Books & Boba is a book club podcast featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors. In addition to discussing books from a wide range of genres, they also bring you interviews with Asian authors and monthly book news updates. You can learn more about Books & Boba and our other Potluck Podcasts by going to podcastpotluck.com.

For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we’re bringing you an episode from Asians in Baseball, one of our fellow podcasts from the Potluck Podcast Collective. Each week, hosts Naomi Ko, Scott Okamoto, and Kim Cooper break down what’s notable with the Asian players in the MLB and then take a deeper dive into the Asians and Asian Americans who have shaped baseball as it is today. You can learn more about Asians in Baseball and all our other Potluck Podcasts by going to podcastpotluck.com.

In Los Angeles Chinatown, local shops and restaurants eagerly welcome back customers as they return to business after the height of the pandemic shutdown. But the neighborhood’s rebound from Covid has been uneven. The pandemic has shone a light on the divide separating the successful and the struggling, as well as concerns about the varied nature of anti-Asian violence. Producer Quincy Surasmith explores the starkly different visions for the future of L.A. Chinatown and the organizations promoting these competing ideas.

Mohammed Ahsanul is an international student at the University of Wyoming. Once he finishes his Ph.D., he expects to return home to Dhaka, Bangladesh—but not before his family reunites with him for the first time since the pandemic began. Producer Naina Rao joins Mohammed and his family for a trip to see America as she examines the ways a better life in the U.S. doesn’t always mean a permanent stay.

Featured story from “A Better Life?” podcast: Jasmine Jiwani is part of Atlanta’s large Ismaili Muslim community. Covid restrictions prevented the community from gathering for the funeral of her husband, who died of Covid-19. Producer Zulekha Nathoo reports on how the pandemic has created unique challenges for Jiwani and other Ismaili Muslims.

Timothy Singratsomboune had a complicated relationship to country music. How did his own experiences bring him away from and eventually back to the genre? And how does country music connect Tim to both Lao culture and the Lao communities he grew up around? In this episode, we explore the connections between Asian Americans, country music, and rural life.

Five years ago in Spring of 2016, we launched Asian Americana. For our fifth anniversary, we take a moment to revisit all of the stories we’ve done from our first episode through the end of 2020. What happened after we stopped recording? What are those people doing now? Listen and find out.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been in the United States for over a year, but the way we each think about it is shaped heavily by how it does or doesn’t directly affect us individually. For some people, they’ve become all too familiar with the impact of the coronavirus. Contributor Denise Chan shares her family’s experience with Covid-19 from her podcast, Until it Happened to Us, which originally ran in December of 2020.

This is the second part of our comfort food episode. In the previous episode, we focused on the ways food traditions get passed down through families, communities, and cookbooks, and the way they adapt over time. Today, we look at how simple foods, convenience foods, and even fast food restaurants can become part of our cherished memories and culture.

The first of two episodes about Asian American comfort foods. We explore the traditions we’ve passed down in our families, as well as the adaptations and substitutions different communities have picked up along the way.

What was it like for a South Asian woman immigrating to the US in the early 20th century, and how did she build a community over her lifetime? And why name a street in Berkeley after Kala Bagai — especially since she may not have spent much time living there, if she did at all?

The language and phrases passed down in our families can reflect our specific cultures, heritage, and journey. But sometimes, they’re a way to cope with something darker and can belie hidden histories. Contributor Julianne Parker explores the depth and meaning of her grandmother’s signature saying in That’s Just the Way the Ball Bounces.

How do we act as allies to the Black community when we see injustice? How do we start those actions and intentions from our homes and communities? We explore the story of how hundreds of people came together from all around the world to work on a letter — a letter that would be translated into 40 plus languages and help everyone start talking to their families and communities about supporting Black lives.

We explore the stories of Asian Americans working to defend our communities from attacks, the volunteers organizing direct aid to vulnerable populations, the people translating information into terms and languages so more can understand, and the local businesses helping each other and their communities survive during Covid-19.

Marie Kondo’s book, show, and Konmari decluttering method got popular in the past couple years, but her methods may not apply the same way to immigrant families. Contributor Christina Ong explores family and belonging in her piece, What We Inherit: Marie Kondo and the Security of Stuff.

Producers Ada Tseng and Caroline Chang don't have a lot of personal experience with facial hair, but they hear Asian American men — in media and in their lives — talk about it all the time. So they decided to investigate: who can or cannot grow it, what are the stereotypes, and the ways it can signify Asian American identity, masculinity, marketability, and resistance.

Dr. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon is a groundbreaking scholar, historian, and community organizer who made sure the world would know the stories of Filipino Americans and Stockton’s Little Manila.

Claudia Kishi is an Asian American literary icon that went beyond being a fun, artistic, and stylish character. She became an inspiration and point of connection for a ton of young Asian Americans. We explore her influence on a generation of Asian American readers.

Following Filipino American History Month in October, we explore three Filipino American podcasts: This Filipino American Life, Balikbayan, and Long Distance — each sharing their own slice of Filipino American discussions, experiences, and stories.