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Asian Studies

The Sachs Program announces winners of AAPI grants
Palawan seascape and boat with clouds in distance

A photo of Palawan. Islands in the province of Palawan were the first to come under Spanish influence and is where archaeologists have found the first signs of human life in the Philippines. The region serves as a starting point for telling indigenous stories in Jo Tiongson Perez’s children’s book that will retell eight indigenous Philippine stories. (Image: Michael Perez)

The Sachs Program announces winners of AAPI grants

Fourteen projects will be funded as part of the program’s responsive call for proposals in support of Asian-American and Pacific Islander artists at Penn.
Sex, taboo, and family conversation
A flat lay of bIrth control pills, IUDs, condoms, and other contraceptives against a blue background

Simran Chand’s double award-winning senior honors thesis explores familial sexual education among second-generation South Asian American students. (Image: @rhsupplies via Unsplash)

Sex, taboo, and family conversation

Simran Chand's thesis, “Familial Sexual Education for South Asian American Undergraduates and its Implications on Sexual Wellbeing,” used qualitative and quantitative analysis to determine the experiences of parental sexual communications among second-generation South Asian American Penn students.

Kristina Linnea García

India’s COVID crisis
Rows of houses with corrugated metal roofs are interspersed with trees. A mountain range is in the background

"Everyone’s biggest worry was that India... was extremely vulnerable, given that its population of 1.4 billion people live in very densely populated areas,” says Harsha Thirumurthy. Pictured: Jaipur, India. (Image: Adam Auerbach) 

India’s COVID crisis

Political scientist Tariq Thachil of the School of Arts & Sciences and economist and public health expert Harsha Thirumurthy of the Perelman School of Medicine take a look at what’s happening in India with the pandemic's second wave and what can be done to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

Kristina Linnea García

U.S.-Japan relations, past, present, and future
Two men in dark suits and dark face masks walk in the West Wing colonnade at the White House, past two sets of American and Japanese flags

Joseph R. Biden and Yoshihide Suga walking at the West Wing Colonnade, April 16, 2021. (Image: Meghan Hays)

U.S.-Japan relations, past, present, and future

A panel of experts shared their thoughts on the two nation’s historic relationship on the eve of the Biden-Suga summit.

Kristen de Groot

Narratives of COVID-19 in China and the world
Person wearing glasses speaks on a Zoom call in front of a background featuring Penn's football stadium, as five others on the call are in a vertical column on the right side of the screen

Guobin Yang, director of the Center on Digital Culture and Society, addresses attendees at the “Narratives of COVID-19 in China and the World” symposium.

Narratives of COVID-19 in China and the world

The two-day symposium brought together scholars to discuss a broad range of topics, from racism against Chinese students studying in the United States to digital workplace surveillance of Chinese workers.

Kristen de Groot

Supporting Penn’s pan-Asian community
Rain streaks on a gridded window with an image of a red building behind

The view from the Pan-Asian American Community House (PAACH) Office, moments before nightfall. (Pre-pandemic image. Credit: Dyana Wing So.)

Supporting Penn’s pan-Asian community

As the community mourns a year of anti-Asian hate crimes, they also move toward healing. Penn Global and the Pan Asian American Community House (PAACH) provide healing outlets for Asian and Asian American people.

Kristina Linnea García

‘Alone Again in Fukushima’
People in hazmat suits walk around the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2013

Experts with the International Atomic Energy Agency depart Unit 4 of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station on April 17, 2013 as part of a mission to review Japan’s plans to decommission the facility. (Image: Greg Webb/IAEA)

‘Alone Again in Fukushima’

On the 10th anniversary of the triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear facility destruction, a film and discussion hosted by the Center for East Asian Studies looked at the calamity’s reverberations.

Kristen de Groot

Understanding cross-cultural communication

In the latest episode of the ‘Understand This …’ podcast series, the Wharton School’s Mauro Guillén and the School of Arts & Sciences’ Tomoko Takami discuss language education and cross-cultural communication in collaborative work environments.
Out with the dust, in with the new
Man shovels snowy street, which is lined by lanterns and banners with Japanese characters

Oosouji, the traditional New Year's cleaning, begins in mid-December in Japan. (Image: jet dela cruz on Unsplash)

Out with the dust, in with the new

In Japan, New Year's preparations start with a big cleaning in December for good luck in January.

Kristina Linnea García