Music Critic and Journalist Jeff Chang to Discuss Colorization of America in Convocation Address at Carleton College

Award-winning music critic and journalist Jeff Chang will deliver Carleton College’s convocation address on Friday, May 3. Chang’s presentation, “Who We Be: The Colorization of America” (titled after his forthcoming book of the same name), will look at the cultural and social implications of the transition to an America without a white majority. Convocation is held from 10:50-11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel, and it is free and open to the public. Convocations are also streamed live and can be viewed online at go.carleton.edu/convo/.

Chang won an American Book Award in 2005 for his first book, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop (Picador, 2005), which chronicles the early history of hip hop music and culture. He also edited a companion book, Total Chaos (Basic Civitas Books, 2007), which contains contributions from pioneers of hip hop. Chang was a founding editor of ColorLines, a magazine that explores race and politics in America, and his work has appeared in publications including The Nation, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Vibe, Foreign Policy and Mother Jones. Chang, a Hawaii native who is of mixed Chinese and Native Hawaiian descent, has been a USA Ford Fellow in Literature and a winner of the North Star News Prize, and he currently serves as executive director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University. Chang has worked as a community, labor and student organizer, and he previously served as a lobbyist for student groups in the California State University system.

This Asian Pacific American Heritage Convocation is sponsored by the Office of Intercultural and International Life. For more information about this event, including disability accommodations, contact the Carleton College Office of College Relations at (507) 222-4308. Skinner Memorial Chapel is located on First Street between College and Winona Streets in Northfield.