culture



STORY OF THE DAY • Oct 20, 2021 • 8 min read

Music 16 years on Danish band still rocks Cambodia’s airwaves

By Anton L. Delgado • Oct 20, 2021
Danish band Michael Learns to Rock became the first international act to visit the Kingdom in decades. Their pop hits continue to resonate among a generation of adoring fans

STORY OF THE DAY • Oct 07, 2021 • 7 min read

Community Eurasians tackle identity issues in Singaporean society

By Amanda Oon • Oct 07, 2021
One of Singapore’s oldest ethnic communities is also its smallest. Eurasian Association members open up about making a cultural mark and fighting for recognition as an overlooked ethnic group

Sep 06, 2021 • 9 min read
LGBTQ+ rights

Malaysia’s transgender community trapped by toxic religious ideals

Being transgender can be cured: that's the widespread narrative fed to Malaysians. Backed by the state and private religious institutions, blocking the legal right of individuals to choose their own gender continues to hinder the rights of the transgender community
By Ashley Yeong • Sep 06, 2021

Sep 02, 2021 • 8 min read
Film

Camera in hand, Cambodia’s indigenous youth record cultures under threat

In the Kingdom, most stories are told in Khmer. But the Bophana Centre’s filmmaking programme is training indigenous youth in northeastern Cambodia to document their communities and languages that risk being subsumed by the dominant national culture
By Jack Brook • Sep 02, 2021

May 17, 2021 • 11 min read
Cuisine

How Thailand pioneered food diplomacy across the globe

Thai restaurants are up there with Indian, Chinese and Italian as among the most common worldwide. This is no accident, with Thailand a pioneer in one of the most successful and subtle soft power cultural programmes ever implemented – culinary diplomacy
By Kiana Duncan • May 17, 2021

Apr 28, 2021 • 7 min read
Heritage

Architecture of the people: The Vietnamese brand of modernism

Modernism is an architectural approach associated with functional and minimalist design. But in Vietnam, where the movement grew more organically in the mid-20th century, a unique style evolved as everyday citizens added their own decorative flourishes to these concrete structures
By Phạm Phú Vinh • Apr 28, 2021

Apr 16, 2021 • 10 min read
Heritage

Remembering the Thai-Chinese journey through Qing Ming festival

As the Qing Ming festival draws to a close among Thailand's ethnic Chinese population, families marking the occasion reflect on the treacherous journeys that brought their ancestors to Thai shores, and the significant role the community plays in the kingdom today
By Wanpen Pajai • Apr 16, 2021

Apr 09, 2021 • 4 min read
Trauma

Scar tissue: Vietnamese women find healing with tattoos

In her tiny Hanoi apartment, tattoo artist Ngoc inks middle-aged women whose lives have been upended by divorce or illness, each of them searching for healing through an art form that is still largely taboo in Vietnam
By Tran Thi Minh Ha/AFP • Apr 09, 2021

Mar 29, 2021 • 11 min read
Arts and culture

Huddled together: Keeping Thailand’s independent cinema alive

With major cineplexes increasingly dominating Thailand's cinema landscape in recent decades, the kingdom's independent film scene was already struggling pre-Covid. Now, amidst the pandemic, efforts are being made to keep Thailand's rich cinematic heritage alive
By Wanpen Pajai • Mar 29, 2021