New Narratives

In the season finale of New Narratives, we're taking on a global behemoth -- the international adoption industry. We'll be exploring the experiences of Korean adoptees through the eyes of two women: Diana and Jane. Diana shares her journey to grow more comfortable in her own skin after being raised by a white mother and a Korean adoptee father. Jane, who was brought to America as a baby, tells us why she decided to leave the U.S. behind as an adult to fight for better adoption laws in South Korea. 

You can buy Diana's book PLACED here. 

Guests include: Diana Albrecht (she/her) and Jane Jeong Trenka (she/her). 

Music by: Motohiro Nakashima

How can, and should, faith and the work for racial justice interact? We speak with Hmong 4 Black Lives activist and recently lay ordained Buddhist practitioner Sōkyo Chee Xiong (he/they) about the relationship between his social awareness and spirituality. Chee shares the profound affect George Floyd’s murder had on them as a Hmong American person of faith with roots in the Twin Cities, and how he has come to see his religious practice and his organizing work as two sides of the same coin.

You can find Sōkyo Chee Xiong on Instagram.

This series is made in collaboration with Buddhist Justice Reporter, with support from the Minneapolis Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College. Music by Small Million.

What does it mean that a Hmong police officer stood by as an accomplice to the murder of George Floyd? We talk to Vayong Moua (he/him), the Director of Racial and Health Equity at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. Vayong tells us about the Hmong community's unique position in Minneapolis, illuminates their experiences with police brutality, and discusses what solidarity could look like between the Hmong and Black communities in Minneapolis. 

This series is made in collaboration with Buddhist Justice Reporter and the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College. Music by Small Million.

Two plaques hang in the rotunda of the Minnesota State Capitol, one that memorializes Minnesota's participation in a forgotten war and another that claims the first plaque told is full of lies. Today on New Narratives, we start to tell the story of the second plaque and the Filipinx Minnesotans who were behind it. We'll tell the story of their relentless activism to tell the story of the Philippine American War the way their ancestors saw and experienced it. This episode is part 2 of a 2-part series on the Philippine-American War.

Guests include: Meg Layese (she/her, Philippine Study Group of Minnesota), Paul Bloom (he/him, PSGM), Art Adiarte (he/him, PSGM), and Professor Karin Aguilar San Juan (she/they/siya, Macalester College).

Music by Takénobu.

A plaque hangs in the rotunda of the Minnesota State Capitol, memorializing Minnesota's participation in a forgotten war. Today on New Narratives, we start to tell the story of that plaque--all the way from the beginning, hundreds of years ago. We'll tell the story of the Philippine-American War, talk about why it's a war nobody remembers, and explore what effects the war has today on the Philippines. This episode is part 1 of a 2-part series on the Philippine-American War.

Guests include: Professor Lisandro Claudio (he/him, University of California Berkeley), Dr. Theodore Gonzalves (he/him, Smithsonian National Museum of American History) and Professor Karin Aguilar San Juan (she/they/siya, Macalester College).

Music by Takénobu.

We're starting a special series here at New Narratives! In May 2020, the presence of Tou Thao, a Hmong police officer, at George Floyd's murder raised important questions for the AAPI community. Now, almost a year later, as the trial of Derek Chauvin unfolds, your hosts Anya Steinberg and Siena Iwasaki Milbauer will be unpacking it from an Asian American lens. Today, we kick off the series by talking about what's going on and hearing from some community members about what they expect as the trial enters its first week.

This series is made in collaboration with Buddhist Justice Reporter and the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College. Music by Small Million.

A message from New Narratives on the situation in Myanmar and how to get involved.

More resources and updates (in English) on the situation can be found at: 

democracyformyanmar.org

@whats.happening.in.myanmar & @listenupmyanmar on Instagram

@myanmar_now_eng and at #whatshappeninginmyanmar on Twitter

We'll be continuing our deep dive into the U.S. war in Vietnam, but this time through the music of No-No Boy! We're going to explore what life was like in Vietnam during the war, what it was like to flee Vietnam after the war, and why people did or didn't leave the country. This episode is part 2 of a 2-part series on the U.S war in Vietnam.

Guests include: No-No Boy (Julian Saporiti, he/him)

You can find No-No Boy on Spotify. And you can watch the CBC Band perform Purple Haze 40 years after the bomb went off in Saigon here.

Today, we'll be taking a deep dive into the U.S. war in Vietnam to tell the complicated story of the wars in Vietnam & the "secret wars" in Cambodia and Laos. We’re going to discuss why the wars happened and what made them so devastating. This episode is part 1 of a 2-part series on the U.S war in Vietnam.

Guests include: Professor Karin Aguilar-San Juan (she/they/siya, Macalester College). 

Madeline Duckles interviews Madame Binh in 1968, courtesy of Pacifica Radio Archives.

Part 2 of our series on heritage languages. We’re going to discuss why people lose their heritage languages, how that feels, and why language revitalization is so important. 

Guests include: Professor Bee Vang-Moua (she/her, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities), Professor Satoko Suzuki (she/her, Macalester College), Chanida Phaengdara Potter (she/her, The SEAD Project), Oanh Vu (she/her), and Ngan Nguyen (she/her).