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Spotlight January 2026

CAS Briefs - Nepal’s Gen Z Protests and Political Uprising: A Response to Long-term Corruption

by Tracy Fehr

On September 8th, 2025, young Nepalis took to the streets as part of Gen Z protests organized across the country. What began in the morning as a peaceful youth protest, by nightfall turned into an unwarranted show of excessive bloodshed that shocked the nation. State security forces met protesters with brutal force and live ammunition, killing 19 people that day and filling hospitals with more than 300 wounded. A total of 76 people—mostly young students and many wearing school uniforms—reportedly died over the following days with more than 2,000 injured.

In response to the violent crackdown, on the following day September 9th, the Gen Z movement hosted protests in cities across the country. Historically, street protests have been a significant political tool used by civil society in Nepal to force political change. However, what happened on September 9thwas unexpected as protests quickly turned into chaos and destruction. Gen Z leaders issued a statement saying the movement "was and remains non-violent and rooted in the principles of peaceful civic engagement.” But, by the end of the day, protesters in Kathmandu had set fire to the Parliament Building, Singha Durbar government complex, the Supreme Court, political leaders’ homes and political party headquarters, mainstream media outlets, and landmarks representing the wealthy elite including The Hyatt Hotel. Gen Z protesters and the Army claimed that infiltrators had co-opted the protests and were primarily responsible for the widespread destruction.

International media including theNew York Times, Time MagazineԻThe Guardianwere quick to pick up the story, but they framed the Gen Z protests as a reaction to recent social media bans enacted by the Government of Nepal. This oversimplified narrative overlooked long-term issues of rampant government corruption and a lack of government accountability that underlay the social unrest. One week before the protests, the Government of Nepal had banned 26 social media platforms, but this was viewed by the Gen Z movement as an attempt to stifle an ongoing anti-corruption social media campaign that critiqued the luxuriant lifestyles associated with politicians’ children, calling them “#nepobabies.” This viral social media campaign highlighted the privilege and wealth of political families and their children, which contrast starkly with the daily lives of most Nepali families who struggle economically and often have to migrate abroad for work. Therefore, the social media ban was just a match to the flame of brewing frustration from a generation with high unemployment and minimal economic opportunities at home.

Read the full article here

Hirshberg wins Khyentse Foundation Academic Development Grant


CAS Tibetan and Himalayan studies teaching associate professor Dan Hirshberg won a Khyentse Foundation Academic Development Grant cost matched by Daryl Maeda, Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, to fund his position in academic year 2026–27.

Focusing on contemplative pedagogy in his course designs and his grant application, Dan wrote: "such high-impact experiential learning can be seen as a contemporary innovation of Tibetan and Buddhist contemplative techniques to benefit those who do not necessarily ascribe to their tenets. Moreover, at a time when the humanities and international area studies in the US are under severe threat, explicitly targeted for abolishment by the federal government, such interdisciplinarity across the humanities, arts and sciences extends a bridge to demonstrate the unparalleled depth and richness of these humanistic traditions, not just as historical and cultural artifacts, but as ever-relevant living processes, evolving and innovating such that they can be effectively applied in secular educational contexts. How can we demonstrate, through the curriculum we design and for the students we reach, that for over 2500 years, these lineages of extraordinary rigor, discipline, experimentation and innovation have offered diverse peoples, of countless cultural and historical contexts, the means for them to flourish? We must help students directly experience for themselves that they still do."

Khyentse Foundation is a global nonprofit organization established in 2001 to actualize the vision of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche by preserving and promoting the wisdom of the Buddha. It functions primarily as a funding institution that supports individuals and projects committed to the study, practice, and dissemination of Buddhist teachings across all traditions in a nonsectarian spirit. The foundation’s work encompasses major initiatives in Buddhist scholarship, text preservation and translation, monastic and teacher training, academic development, educational programs for children, and practitioner support. Through grants, scholarships, awards, and seed funding, Khyentse Foundation aids scholars, practitioners, translators, institutions, and emerging initiatives worldwide, with the goal of enabling the Buddha’s insights to flourish in contemporary contexts.

Celebrating Undergraduate Research: Introducing the 12th Issue of CJAS

Welcome to the twelfth edition of theColorado Journal of Asian Studies(CJAS), published by the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Since its founding, CJAS has celebrated the creativity and insight of undergraduate scholars by providing a platform for original research on Asia. This year’s issue continues that tradition, bringing together a diverse collection of essays, photo projects, and long-form studies that span regions from Iran to Japan and topics from religion and politics to translation, visual culture, and food.

Short Form Academic Essays

  • Gender and Power: Manifestations of Women’s Status in the Discourse of Reform—Abigail Ellis, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Post-1987 Education Reform & the Search for National Identity in Taiwan—Shelby Glenn, University of Colorado Boulder
  • The Sinicization of Manchu Women in the Qing Dynasty: Evaluating from Marriage Custom, Chaste Widow, and Manchu Clothing—Jiaheng Lyu, University of Texas
  • Local Deities, Lamas, and Festivals: Experiencing the Sentient Beings of Manang Valley, Nepal—Luke Stumpfl, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Orphan of Taiwan: The Importance of Identity and Upbringing in the Mid-20th Century—Hayden Fox, University of Colorado Boulder

Photo Essays

  • Focusing People Not Objects: Photography and Selective Narratives in Colonial India—Spandan Koirala, University of Colorado Boulder
  • The Female Gaze: The Aurangabad Photo Budget No. 7 as a Lens for Exploring Missionary Women and Their Work in Local Communities—Joy Mellott, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Understanding the East Malaysian Perspective of Local History—Samantha Choe, University of Colorado Boulder

Long-Form Academic Essays

  • ADHD in Translation: The English to Chinese Translation Distinctions—Chloe Nowak, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Farmers in Modernity: Local Responses to Agricultural Policy in Bhutan—Lorelei Smillie, Colorado College
  • Inventing an Empire: The Role of Migration in the Fabrication of Curry in Colonial India and Legacies of Food Colonization—Marguerite Laplant, University of Denver
  • The Legacies of State Shinto and Aum Shinrikyo on Japanese Religious Politics as seen Through the Unification Church—L.H. Scheppy, University of Colorado Boulder


We are grateful to the undergraduate scholars whose contributions make this issue possible. Their work reflects the creativity, rigor, and intellectual curiosity that define Asian Studies as a field and highlight the value of undergraduate research as a vital part of academic inquiry.

Now in its twelfth edition, CJAS builds on more than a decade of publishing student scholarship. This tradition underscores the journal’s role as a space where undergraduates can share their voices, challenge assumptions, and broaden our collective understanding of Asia.

We invite you to read the full 12th edition of CJAS and engage with the wide-ranging perspectives it offers.

Sincerely,
The Editorial Team
Colorado Journal of Asian Studies
Center for Asian Studies

Recent Faculty Publications

CAS affiliated faculty wrote numerous articles, essays, and books in 2025. Here is a small sampling of their publications:

Lauren Collins. 2025. “”.Transnational Asia, vol. 7, no. 1, Oct. 2025, doi:10.25615/ta.v7i1.113.

Emmanuel David wrote an introduction for a republication of the first book of poetry by a Filipino in the US. The author, M. de Gracia Concepción, is Emmanuel'sgreat grand uncle.2025 was the 100-year anniversary of the original publication.

Kathryn E. Goldfarb.2025.. Cornell University Press.

Rachel Rinaldo and Tracy Fehr. 2025. “‘”Critical Asian Studies (online first).

Stephanie Su. 2025.. Vol. 12. Brill.


Nishant Upadhyay. 2025. ,Amerasia Journal,

Ethan Waddell. 2025. "."positions33, no. 1 (2025): 109-134.


Emily T Yeh, Cypri Jehan Paju Dale, Gregorius Afioma, and Shae Frydenlund. 2025. "."Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space(online first).