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H.M.A. Leow

H.M.A. Leow

Rooted in postcolonial Southeast Asia, H.M.A. Leow writes from the crossings of cultures and stories. She has a scholarly background in multi-ethnic US American history and literature, with a career bridging the newsroom and the classroom. Her art and research center on gender, ethnicity, and narrative, but her interests are curious and catholic.

Colorized image of courtesans in Shanghai ca. 1875
Politics & History

The Rise and Fall of Shanghai’s “Sing-Song Girls”

How did celebrated entertainers become associated with a profession increasingly defined by exploitation?
Women performing the Kecak, or “monkey chant.”
Politics & History

The Women Breaking the Rules of Balinese Dance

Middle-aged performers are taking on roles once reserved for men, challenging expectations about age and gender in Bali.
A colorized illustration of Darna, the main character of the comic book series created by Mars Ravelo in 1947.
Arts & Culture

The Folk Stories Behind the Philippines’ Superheroes

Filipino komiks have long drawn on mythology to create larger-than-life champions for ordinary people.
A record from Ros Serey Sothea
Arts & Culture

How Cambodian Pop Music Survived the Khmer Rouge

After genocide decimated the country’s musicians, old recordings helped a new generation reconnect with Cambodia’s musical past.
Students of the only all-Chinese school in Bolivar County, Mississippi, 1938.
Politics & History

The Chinese-Only Schools of the Jim Crow South

A 1920s court battle over a Chinese American student exposed the complicated racial boundaries of school segregation.
Hakalau Japanese Language School circa 1918.
Education

Why Hawaii Put Japanese into Public Schools

Political and religious leaders battled for influence through the education of Japanese immigrant children.
Dancers perform Kuda kepang, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Education & Society

Where Dance Meets the Spirit World

The history of kuda kepang, the Javanese horse dance whose trance rituals continue to spark religious debate.
A stateless teenager wipes a table clean at a restaurant on May 23, 2024 in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia. Many stateless teenagers and children find jobs to help support their families, but are often paid a fraction of what Malaysian nationals can earn.
Politics & History

Born Without a Country

In Southeast Asia, colonial legacies and citizenship policies continue to leave hundreds of thousands without legal nationality.
Gilbert Bargayo washes his crucifixion wounds after being crucified on Good Friday in Tuburan, Cebu, Philippines.
Education & Society

The Meaning Behind Philippine Crucifixions

An anthropologist examines the sacred vows that inspire some Filipino Catholics to reenact Christ's Passion each Holy Week.
Approach to the Bridge of Spain in the New Town, Manila, 1899
Politics & History

The Crime That Wasn’t Called Sodomy

In the American Philippines, officials used vagrancy laws to police same-sex relations while avoiding explicit bans.
Pamphlet from boycotters from the Local 366 Union
Politics & History

“Brewed with Blood”: The Coors Beercott of the 1970s

An unusual coalition transformed a labor dispute into one of the longest-running consumer protests in US history.
Mei Lan-fang
Arts & Culture

How Race Shaped New York’s View of Chinese Opera

In 1930s New York, Chinese opera was praised uptown but mocked in Chinatown.
An example of boys' love inspired artwork.
Education & Society

The Global Rise of Boys’ Love Fandom

From Mexico City fan conventions to Thai TV dramas, Japanese queer media culture is evolving in unexpected ways.
A photograph of nutmeg from the Banda Islands, ca. 1875
Politics & History

The Violent History Behind Nutmeg

Beneath a familiar flavor lies a history of conquest, forced labor, and cultural upheaval in Indonesia’s Banda Islands.
From the cover of Vietnam: The Boat People Search for a Home
Politics & History

How 1980s Children’s Books Framed Vietnamese Refugees

Children’s books introduced Vietnamese refugees to US readers, often simplifying their histories and experiences.
A traditional Malay healer, ca. 1890
Education & Society

The Supernatural Side of Malayan Rice Farming

In agrarian Malaya, spirit mediums negotiated with deities and demons to safeguard crops and shape the rhythms of rural life.
Studio portrait of amateur photographer Tan Gwat Bing in Central Java
Politics & History

The Immigrant Photographers Who Shaped a Nation’s Image

In early twentieth-century Indonesia, Chinese-run studios brought modernity into focus.
Lion Dance Costume used during Chinese New Year
Politics & History

Chinese Lion Dance Finds New Life in Newfoundland

A small Chinese Canadian community reshapes a performance tradition across generations, redefining how the art form is practiced and understood.
Anida Yoeu Ali, Water Birth, The Red Chador: Genesis I, 2019, Kaiona Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, archival inkjet print. Photo by Masahiro Sugano. Courtesy of the artist.
Art & Art History

The Red Chador’s Provocative Public Performance

Anida Yoeu Ali’s Red Chador challenges stereotypes of Muslim identity through performance art in highly visible public settings.
Leather hides drying on tannery rooftop in Kolkata, india
Politics & History

Caste and Culture in Kolkata’s Chinese Leather Trade

In eastern Kolkata, a Hakka Chinese community carved out an economic niche in leather production amid stigma surrounding purity and caste hierarchy.
A bride in Guangzhou, China, photographed by by John Thomson,1869.
Politics & History

The Wedding Ritual Where Brides Wept in Song

In southern China, weddings once began with a ritual that let brides speak the unspeakable.
Korean Orphan Choir in the Netherlands in 1962
Politics & History

How Cold War “Orphans” Sang Their Way into American Hearts

Touring choirs helped cast Korean children as ideal adoptees—and Americans as benevolent saviors.
The cover of The Truffle Eye by Vaan Nguyen
Arts & Culture

The Poet Who Writes About Vietnam in Hebrew

Vaan Nguyen’s poetry examines exile and memory through the lens of her family’s journey from Vietnam to Israel.
Japanese settlers harvesting millet in Northern Manchuria
Arts & Culture

When the Dust Settles in Colonial Manchurian Writing

Takagi Kyōzō makes heavy use of natural imagery to decry the miserable status of the settler colonist population in Japanese-occupied Manchuria.
Massacre of the Innocents by Bartolo di Fredi
Education & Society

A Fierce Devotion to the “Empress of Hell”

Medieval dramatizations of the confrontation between the Virgin Mary and King Herod offered a symbolic resistance to tyranny.