Japanese, Jewish, Queer, and Clergy with Rev. Laura Cheifetz  Bradley Onishi interviews Reverend Laura Mariko Chaffetz, discussing her experiences as a multiracial queer Asian American Christian minister with Jewish heritage. They examine how APA religious communities navigate the black-white binary in the U.S., the impact of anti-Asian racism during the pandemic, and the dynamics of Christian identity in various contexts. The conversation highlights the importance of recognizing and valuing...

Brad speaks with Dr. Himanee Gupta, Professor in the Department of Historical Studies at SUNY Empire State and the author of "Muncie, India(na): Middletown and Asian America," about howt South Asians in the United States who grew up in the Hindu faith are caste-privileged or savarna (which means having varna, a term often equated to having spiritual purity). By contrast, Dalits like Soundararajan are avarna (without varna) and thereby deemed within this system as impure. These categorizations...

Many wonder how and why religious minorities in the USA adopt conservative – and even fascist – political identities when it seems that the American Right is anti-immigrant and in many cases explicitly racist. Scholars Dr. Jane Hong (Occidental) and Dr. Adrian de Leon (USC/NYU) argue that Asian American (religious) conservatism should be understood not just as an imported phenomenon from outside these communities, but as something structural within the formation of Asian America...

In June 2023, the SCOTUS ruled that race cannot be used in the college admissions process. Many in and outside of the Asian American community see the ruling as positive for Asian American students who are supposedly disadvantaged by affirmative action policies. Brad talks with Dr. Janelle Wong of the University of Maryland about what the data tells us concerning Asian American acceptance rates, how this ruling will affect BIPOC Americans on the whole, and the ways the model minority myth is...

Brad speaks with journalist and scholar Philip Deslippe about the origins of yoga in the United States as a response to the precarity of South Asian lives in the 20th century America. "A century ago, students of yoga in the United States, like many practitioners today, believed that they were engaging in something pure, ancient, and Indian. In reality, the yoga they were doing was a bricolage of the metaphysical and mundane presented to them in an exotic, Orientalized package by largely...

Brad speaks with Dr. Gabriel Catanus, Affiliate Assistant Professor of Theology at Fuller Seminary and Director of the Filipino American Ministry Initiative, about the challenges and joys of doing Filipino American theology and ministry and how they fit - and stand out - from other Asian American theological and ministry paradigms. Beyond his current project with Cascade Books, Dr. Catanus' publications include “Colonial Spirituality: The Pain and Politics of Doing Filipino American...

Brad speaks with Dr. Simran Jeet Singh , Executive Director for the Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program and author of The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life. As a boy growing up in South Texas, Simran Jeet Singh and his brothers confronted racism daily: at school, in their neighborhood, playing sports, and later in college and beyond. Despite the prejudice and hate he faced, this self-described “turban-wearing, brown-skinned, beard-loving Sikh” refused to...

Brad speaks with Dr. Martin Nguyen, who explains how his personal story impacts his understanding race, theology, culture, and heritage. As he explains, "t is difficult for me to imagine doing theology, then, without also considering who I am—my being Vietnamese, Asian, American, once Catholic, and now Muslim. Race and religion are entangled in the narrative of my life. They even shape my childhood memories as a son of Vietnamese Catholic refugees, born and raised in Virginia." Dr. Nguyen...

Brad speaks with Dr. Funie Hsu and Chenxing Han about race, heritage, and Asian American Buddhisms. They discuss the ways Asian American Buddhists are often misunderstood in the United States due to the incomplete representation of Buddhism in American culture and the contemporary predominance of Whiteness in Buddhist spaces. Dr. Funie Hsu is currently Associate Professor of American Studies at San José State University and was a former University of California President's Postdoctoral...

An introduction to Asian and Pacific American religions through interviews with experts and practitioners. Host Dr. Bradley Onishi speaks with APA scholars about: Asian American CatholicismAsian American Buddhism before and beyond WhitenessFighting racism with the wisdom of Sikh teachingsDoing Muslim theology as a Vietnamese AmericanAsian American evangelicals in the MAGA AgeThe challenges of creating Filipino religious communitiesRace, Jim Crow, and the origins of modern yogaCaste privilege...