The Weatherhead East Asian Institute’s Asia in Action initiative highlights scholarly, artistic, and advocacy work related to East, Inner, and Southeast Asia that extends beyond traditional academic frameworks. It brings attention to the practices and lived experiences of innovative professionals—including writers, filmmakers, artists, and activists—whose work engages with pressing issues in a rapidly changing world.
Through public programming, interdisciplinary research support, and collaborative projects, the initiative fosters meaningful connections between academic and broader communities. By amplifying voices and perspectives often overlooked by academia, Asia in Action widens our understanding of Asia and underscores the importance of action-driven narratives.
Asia in Action: Playlist
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Asia in Action News
Asia in Action Fellow Khashem Gyal’s Daughter of the Light depicts a family fracturing under pressures of a rapidly changing world.
At Asia Society New York, filmmaker Tony Bui revisits his celebrated debut with WEAI Director Lien-Hang Nguyen.
Artist-in-residence Tony Bui talks to Criterion about the remarkable slate of Vietnam War films he curated for their streaming platform.
Filmmaker and educator talks storytelling, stereotypes, and the many ways of addressing a war’s legacy.
A remarkable two-day conference looks back at the Vietnam War and the lives it irrevocably altered.
COVID-19 highlighted the many challenges facing migrant workers in Singapore, but those challenges themselves weren't new.
Newly salient after the pandemic, “the unlikely interplay of food and racial politics” is the focus of a virtual panel discussion.
A climate of fear and racial profiling, scholars report, threatens good-faith academic and scientific collaboration.
Readings and dialogues combine to form a portrait of WEAI's multifaceted writer in residence.
Designer Vũ Thảo and fellow panelists discussed the urgent need for alternatives to fast fashion.
