East Asian Studies

East Asian Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of East Asia about their new books.

Making Sense of China's Economy with Tao Wang and Michael Leger (Routledge, 2023)

October 13, 2026

Making Sense of China's Economy

Tao Wang
Hosted by Lucas Tse

Making Sense of China's Economy (Routledge, 2023) untangles China’s complex economic structure, evolving issues and curious contradictions, and explai…

Teaching and Transformation in Popular Confucian Literature of the Late Qing with Katherine L. Alexander (U Michigan Press, 2025)

October 9, 2026

Teaching and Transformation in Popular Confucian Literature of the Late Qing

Katherine L. Alexander

Teaching and Transformation in Popular Confucian Literature of the Late Qing (U Michigan Press, 2025) by Katherine L. Alexander explores how one late …

Alone in Japan: A Journey to the Future with Tom Feiling (Allen Lane, 2025)

October 1, 2026

Alone in Japan

Tom Feiling
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Japan has been aging for decades. The country’s birth rate first fell below the replacement rate in 1974, long before phrases like the “demographic tr…

The Range of the River: A Riverine History of Empire Across China, India, and Southeast Asia with Iftekhar Iqbal (Stanford UP, 2025)

October 1, 2026

The Range of the River

Iftekhar Iqbal
Hosted by Patrick Jory

Six great Asian river systems have their origins in the Tibetan glacial region: the Brahmaputra, the Irrawaddy, the Salween, the Mekong, the Red and t…

Transient Becoming: Self-Improvement and Capitalist Virtuousness in Contemporary China with Gil Hizi (NUS Press, 2026)

September 30, 2026

Transient Becoming

Gil Hizi
Hosted by Yadong Li

How do individuals seek to become better persons in contemporary China? How do they navigate the complex demands of personal growth given the fragment…

Three Impeachments: Guo Xiu and the Kangxi Court with Kent Guy (U Washington Press, 2024)

September 30, 2026

Three Impeachments

R. Kent Guy

Three Impeachments: Guo Xiu and the Kangxi Court (U Washington Press, 2024) by Kent Guy tells the story of a series of impeachments brought by the cen…

Wave Makers and the Rise of #MeToo in Taiwan: Media, Empathy, and Digital Testimony with Xinling Li (Anthem Press, 2026)

September 25, 2026

Wave Makers and the Rise of #MeToo in Taiwan

Xinling Li

When the Taiwanese political drama Wave Makers appeared in April 2023, few anticipated its impact beyond the screen. Within weeks, survivors in politi…

Mehran Gul, "The New Geography of Innovation: The Global Contest for Breakthrough Technologies" (Simon and Schuster, 2026)

September 24, 2026

The New Geography of Innovation

Mehran Gul
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Increasingly, it seems like the corporate names that dominate headlines are much more diverse than they used to be. Samsung, TSMC, and SK Hynix. Aliba…

Jerome Sauvage, "Witness to North Korea: Three Years on the Ground in the DPRK" (Bloomsbury, 2026)

September 18, 2026

Witness to North Korea

Jerome Sauvage
Hosted by Anthony Kao

Jerome Sauvage served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Resident Representative in North Korea …

Andrew Seth Meyer, "To Rule All Under Heaven: A History of Classical China, from Confucius to the First Emperor" (Oxford UP, 2026)

September 17, 2026

To Rule All Under Heaven

Andrew Seth Meyer
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

The Warring States Period is one of the most important times in China’s history. It marked the end of one dynasty–the Zhou–and the beginning of a new …

Remco E Breuker, "Not Everything Unfolds as Anticipated: Selections from Yi Kyubo’s Tongguk Yi Sangguk Chip" (U Hawaii Press, 2026)

September 14, 2026

Not Everything Unfolds As Anticipated

Translated by Remco E Breuker
Hosted by Leslie Hickman

Not Everything Unfolds as Anticipated: Selections from Yi Kyubo’s Tongguk Yi Sangguk Chip (University of Hawaii Press, 2026) comprises translations of…

Christopher B. Patterson, "Domesticating Brown: Movements of Racial Imagination" (Duke UP, 2026)

September 14, 2026

Domesticating Brown

Christopher B. Patterson
Hosted by Donna Anderson

This episode features a conversation with Dr. Christopher B. Patterson, Professor of the Social Justice Institute at the University of British Columbi…

Ming-sho Ho, "Be Water: Collective Improvisation in Hong Kong's Anti-Extradition Protests" (Temple University Press, 2025)

September 13, 2026

Be Water

Ming-Sho Ho
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

During the eventful summer of 2019 in Hong Kong, the Be Water Revolution formed to resist the proposed extradition of fugitives to mainland China’s co…

Gavin Healy, "A Guide to Mao’s China: Showing the Nation to Foreign Guests" (Cornell UP, 2026)

September 11, 2026

A Guide to Mao's China

Gavin Healy

A Guide to Mao’s China: Showing the Nation to Foreign Guests (Cornell UP, 2026) by Gavin Healy explores how tourism was reshaped during the Mao era. I…

Voices from North Korea: Refugees Tell Their Stories

September 8, 2026

Voices from North Korea

In this podcast, North Korean refugees who visited the University of Bradford share their harrowing experiences of life in North Korea, escape, and th…

Emily Matson, "China’s Date Debate: How Manchurian Scholars Rewrote World War II" (U Michigan Press, 2026)

September 6, 2026

China's Date Debate

Emily Matson
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

China’s Date Debate: How Manchurian Scholars Rewrote World War II (U Michigan Press, 2026) by Dr. Emily Matson is an in-depth investigation of the Chi…

The Next Issue: Fall 2026 (26.3)

September 4, 2026

57 The Next Issue

Melissa Fuster and Rosi Song
Hosted by Gastronomica

In this episode, Melissa Fuster and Rosi Song of Gastronomica’s Editorial Collective introduce the journal’s latest issue, Fall 2026 (volume 26, issue…

Jieun Baek,  "Privileged But Powerless: How North Korean Elite Grievances Reveal the Regime’s Greatest Weakness" (Yale UP, 2026)

September 3, 2026

Privileged But Powerless

Jieun Baek
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

What do the people closest to power really think about the system they serve? That’s perhaps one of the most important questions one could ask about N…

Whistling Arrows and Heavenly Horses: The Han-Xiongnu War

September 2, 2026

Whistling Arrows and Heavenly Horses

Scott Forbes Crawford

John Ross speaks with Scott Forbes Crawford about his book The Han-Xiongnu War, 133 BC–89 AD (Pen & Sword Military, 2024) For more than two centuries,…

Steven Herman: Behind the White House Curtain

August 30, 2026

Steven Herman

Steven Herman spent 1990-2006 in Japan, most of those years with Voice of America. He served as South East Asia Bureau Chief as well as North East Asi…