It is an honor to present our third issue of the Columbia Journal of Asia (CJA). Volume II, Issue 1 features creative and scholarly pieces by undergraduates and recent graduates from across Asia and the United States presented in three sections: creative works, which include art, poetry, and prose; notes, which are brief academic essays; and articles, which are long-form research papers. These works, which span history, political science, literature, and the arts, enliven questions and musings on identity, the fraught nature of labels and categories, and individuals’ and communities’ consequent efforts to straddle and transcend these siloing boundaries. These articles and various discussions amongst ourselves helped us formulate our thematic focus for CJA this year: “Genealogies of the Orient(al).” We believe that the extraordinary works in this issue and the activities we’ve been able to conduct this semester have carried forward CJA’s goal—to be a space that critically engages with Asian narratives and their importance in (re)defining the ways in which we approach the humanities and social sciences.