HERstory: Southeast Asia

Mar 07 2025 49 ep. 19 mins 94
HERstory: Southeast Asia Podcast artwork

Welcome to HERstory, the history of Southeast Asia, told from her perspective. We’ll discover historical figures, matriarchal societies, and contemporary female icons — and maybe learn about ourselves along the way. Season 1 focuses on the Southeast Asian age of commerce up to the colonial period.

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31 | Women, War, and Resistance: Southeast Asia in WWII

Mar 07 2025 17 mins  
New season, new stories — this time, we’re diving into the herstory of Southeast Asia in World War 2. Their resistance and resilience helped shape independence movements, political landscapes, and ongoing fights for justice.Celebrate International Women's Day by centering their stories and pushing to #AccelerateAction for gender equality.Special thanks to @PinkTrashProject

Bonus Episode | Excerpt from "Antonia Lopez Writes: Life at the Sta Ysabel Convent 1915"

Feb 14 2025 1 mins  
What was it like to grow up behind convent walls? In this bonus episode, we follow Margarita, a young girl whose world is shaped by the rhythms of Santa Ysabel Convent. Through the words of Antonia E. Lopez, we uncover a lost chapter of Filipina girlhood from 1915.🔗 Listen now on Patreon

30.2 | Ang Henerala: Salud Algabre with Ana Algabre Hernandez

Feb 07 2025 34 mins  
History often forgets the women who fought for freedom—but we don’t. In the last episode of Season 2, we sit down with Salud Algabre's granddaughter,Ana Algabre Hernandez, to understand her leadership in a male-dominated movement, her resilience in the face of defeat, and the powerful legacy she left behind.Listen now and discover why Salud Algabre believed thatno uprising

30.1 | Ang Henerala: Salud Algabre

Jan 24 2025 25 mins  
In this two-part episode, we discuss Henerala Salud Algabre, a prominent member of Sakdal, a Filipino peasant organization founded in 1930 to oppose American colonialism and the ruling elites in the Philippines. She led an uprising in May 1935 in Cabuyao, Laguna to disrupt a plebiscite tied to the Tydings-McDuffie Act, which offered delayed independence. Always brave, sometimes con

29 | Labor at the Margins: Indian and Chinese Women Migrants in British Malaya

Dec 31 2024 21 mins  
This episode is about the overlooked history of female immigrants in colonial Malaya, spanning from the late 19th to mid-20th century. These women, primarily from Indian and Chinese communities, played vital roles in tin mining, rubber plantations, urban domestic work, and more. Despite their contributions, their narratives have been sidelined, reduced to footnotes in male-dominate

28 | Katipuneras: Women of the Philippine Revolution

Dec 13 2024 21 mins  
In this episode of HERstory Southeast Asia, we delve into the stories of the women of the Philippine Revolution. These "Katipuneras" (though we specify who among them were actually in the Katipunan and who were involved elsewhere) played critical roles in the fight for independence against Spanish colonization. The episode highlights their bravery, from leading troops and smuggling

27 | The Slave Trade of Women & Children in "French Indochina”

Oct 31 2024 21 mins  
As early as the mid-1870s, Chinese pirates were trafficking Vietnamese women and children into China to be sold as slaves. However, with the arrival of the French in 1885, this trade significantly increased. Find out why in this episode. ICYMI: last September 30 we celebrated International Podcast Day and HERstory Southeast Asia was included in Tatler Asia’s Front & Female ed

26 | The Soenting Melajoe Women's Newspaper 1912-1921

Jul 21 2024 12 mins  
This is part of two of us revisiting the Minangkabau matrilineal society. In the previous episode, we talked about Ruhana Kuddus, Indonesia’s First Female Journalist. In this episode, we’re going to talk about Soenting Melajoe, the pioneering indigenous women's newspaper published from 1912-1921 in the Minangkabau community in West Sumatra. Research and writing for this epi

25 | Ruhana Kuddus: Indonesia’s First Female Journalist

Jun 21 2024 15 mins  
In the next couple of episodes, we’re revisiting the Minangkabau matrilineal society, specifically through Ruhana Kuddus, Indonesia’s First Female Journalist, and Soenting Melajoe, the pioneering indigenous women's newspaper published from 1912-1921 in the Minangkabau community in West Sumatra. Research and writing for this episode was in collaboration with Joanna Que, with

24 | The Burmese Women of the Khit Kala

Dec 08 2023 15 mins  
In this episode, we’ll examine the Burmese Women of the Khit Kala, the women of the times, the “It girls” of colonial Burma. Beginning in the 1920s, they were seen in magazines, advertisements, and newspapers, a clear and controversial symbol of change that mirrors what other women went through in the Southeast Asian colonial period. Thank you to our patrons: Yati, Charlie, S