History as Mixtape: A Discussion with Theo Gonzalves and Jeff Chang

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Each track—an object, a memory, a voice—samples the past, remixed for the present. The skips and scratches matter as much as the melodies. And who gets to DJ the story? That’s everything.

In the hands of writers Theo Gonzalves and Jeff Chang, history isn’t a closed book—it’s a living playlist. One where protest and poetry blend with pop hooks, family heirlooms echo with collective grief, forgotten voices are dropped back into the mix, and the mic gets passed to those often left off the record. Sojin Kim moderates this lively discussion about the award-winning publication Smithsonian Asian Pacific American History, Art, and Culture in 101 Objects, and we invite you to consider the mixtape of your own history.

Theo Gonzalves
Dr. Theodore S. Gonzalves is a scholar of comparative cultural studies and a curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. A former interim director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Theo has taught in the United States, Spain, and the Philippines since 1991. His publications include Smithsonian Asian Pacific American History, Art, and Culture in 101 Objects (2023), which won the Smithsonian Secretary’s Research Prize. An accomplished musician and former president of the Association for Asian American Studies, Theo currently serves on the board of the American Council of Learned Societies.

Jeff Chang
Jeff Chang is a writer and cultural organizer. His book Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation was named one of the best US nonfiction books of the last quarter century. He has also written the award-winning books Who We Be: A Cultural History of Race in Post-Civil Rights America and We Gon' Be Alright: Notes On Race and Resegregation. He has been a Lucas Artist Fellow and has received the American Book Award, the Asian American Literary Award, and the USA Ford Fellowship in Literature. He is the host of the Signal Award-winning podcast on artists and ideas, Edge of Reason. His next book, Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America (Mariner), will be published in September 2025.

Sojin Kim
Sojin Kim is a curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. She works on multifaceted, collaborative projects addressing migration, music, and public history—with particular focus on the production of collective memory through performance, archives/collections, and the use of public space. She recently curated Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond, an exhibition presented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum through November 2025.

This program is copresented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Bank of America is the Founding Sponsor of the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art “IlluminAsia” Arts and Culture Festival.

Image Courtesy of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, design by Nathan Kawanishi.