Find Background Essays
Unfiltered » Use the filter bar above to filter your results
A Brief History of Nuclear Weapons States
The international community has been trying to control, rather unsuccessfully, nations developing weapons of mass destruction. With the earlier...more
A Case Study of Indian Values Mr. Narayana Murthy and Infosys
This case study aims to demonstrate how any Indian may be at once in a 21st century capitalist society and also draw upon the millennia of tradition....more
A Silk Roads Glossary A Silk Road Encounters Resource
A glossary of common terms used when describing life along the Silk Roads....more
Afghanistan A Geographic Sketch
Afghanistan is located at the meeting points of the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and East Asia. Because of its strategic position,...more
Afghanistan A Historical Sketch
This introduction to Afghanistan looks not only at current events, but also its geo-political history from 1747, when it became what we know today as...more
After Seventeen Years
A short story about one family in Manchuria in the early 20th century....more
Ancestral Rites and Divination in China Religion and World View in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, ca. 1600–256 BCE
This essay looks at Chinese traditions of ancestral rites and divination. This essay is part of a series that examines Chinese belief systems, that...more
Asia Through a Glass Darkly Stereotypes of Asians in Western Literature
The author deconstructs stereotypes about Asians in Western literature and popular culture, using plenty of primary source examples....more
Asian Americans and US-Asia Relations
Explore how issues of race and power have defined the conduct of U.S. involvement in Asia, shaping both popular attitudes and government policies...more
Asian Americans Then and Now Linking Past to Present
A look at the long history of Asian Americans and its role in shaping US identity. The essay also looks at the push-pull factors that have helped...more
