illume magazine

Putting the Politics Back in ‘Asian American’

BY JULIANA GEORGE

How to Drop a Lit Match on a Paper Trail

BY KARISSA KORMAN

On the Need for Racial Justice in the Reproductive Rights Movement

As the state-sanctioned assault on the reproductive rights movement continues, legal mechanisms and healthcare institutions are furthering racialized disparities.

BY ELLA CHIN

On the Apolitical Assault of the MFA’s ‘Hallyu!’ Exhibit

The transnational “Hallyu!” exhibit is not a celebration of South Korean history and culture, but instead reinforces the illusion of postcoloniality and the logic of Western modernity.

by JESICA BAK

I Don’t Hate You

The ways in which Kim Sae-Ron and Sulli were both exploited for entertainment and subsequently discarded by the public, the nation, and perhaps even the support systems in their respective lives, are two sides of the same coin presenting one of Korea’s most pressing issues today.

BY JESICA BAK

Aegukga

“How else to describe this but immortal? Forget the war that birthed you and find redemption in a translation that matters.”

BY ASHLEY WHEE

Blue or Red: The Election Results Won’t Alter the American Imperial Project

What can Supreme Court cases from the early twentieth century teach us about the racial logics present in contemporary affirmative action jurisprudence?

BY JULIANA GEORGE

Achilles

“what am i but the tropical breeze passing through the tree line. bare feet meandering through short blades of grass”

BY ryan siddhaRTH

Conversational Ruptures

The New Yorker’s Victor Guan on Imbuing Culture in Graphic Design

Victor Guan, assistant art director at The New Yorker, discusses imbuing Chinese American lifestyles, traditions, and meanings into his design practice, and the art of documenting memory.

BY ENZO NGUYEN

Conversational Ruptures: Decolonizing Taste Buds with @papayapetite

Beyond recipes, Lao American creator @papayapetite’s content invites her audience to reflect on food history, cultural erasure, and colonialism.

BY VIENNA CHANG

Literary Arts

Anger looks good on the both of us

BY KEVIN SEN ZHANG

generic diasporic poem

BY JULIANA GEORGE