TACOMA, Wash. – Renowned journalist and author Jeff Chang will be a keynote speaker at the 2018 Race & Pedagogy National Conference at the University of Puget Sound, Sept. 27–29. Tickets are available at tickets.pugetsound.edu.
Chang has written extensively on culture, politics, music, and the arts. His first book, “Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation,” received many honors in 2005, including the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award. In 2014, he published “Who We Are: The Colorization of America,” which won the Ray + Pat Browne Award for Best Work in Popular Culture and American Culture and was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award. His 2016 book, “We Gon' Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation,” was declared “the smartest book of the year” by the Washington Post.
In June 2018, Chang was named vice president of narrative, arts, and culture at Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation. In this role, he directs Race Forward’s narrative programs, including its strategic communications department and the award-winning Colorlines news site—which Chang co-founded in 1998. He is also working on expanding the organization’s work around cultural equity and justice in the arts sector, deepen its engagement around the arts and racial justice, and advance new initiatives around cultural strategy. Previous to his work at Race Forward, Chang was the executive director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University, where he was the 2014 winner of the St. Clair Drake Teaching Award.
The Race & Pedagogy National Conference is held every four years. It is organized by the University of Puget Sound’s Race & Pedagogy Institute, a partnership between the national liberal arts college and the South Puget Sound community. The 2018 conference theme, “Radically Re-Imagining the Project of Justice: Narratives of Rupture, Resilience, and Liberation,” will be explored through lectures, discussions, panels, presentations, performances, and visual arts exhibitions.
Chang will deliver his keynote during the morning plenary on Friday, September 28. Additional keynote speakers include Black Lives Matter co-founders Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Chairman Brian Cladoosby, and Valerie Jarrett, a former senior advisor to President Barack Obama.
Sponsors of the 2018 Race & Pedagogy National Conference include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, an anonymous foundation donor, the City of Tacoma, the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, the Black Education Strategy Roundtable, Franklin Pierce Schools, and MultiCare Health System.
The 2018 Race & Pedagogy National Conference is open to the public. Participants can register at pugetsound.edu/RPI. Details on speakers and the program can be found on the website, which will be updated regularly.
The photo above was taken by Jeremy Keith Villaluz and is available for media use at pugetsound.edu/pressphotos.
Tweet this: Journalist and author Jeff Chang (@zentronix) will be a keynote speaker at the @PSRaceandPedagogy conference at @univpugetsound next month. Registration is open now.
Follow us on Twitter! twitter.com/univpugetsound