Peter Kwong, best known for his writing and films on Chinese Americans and modern Chinese politics, will talk about his life, work and the challenge of integrating his roles as an activist, scholar, filmmaker and journalist.
A professor of Asian American studies and urban affairs and planning at Hunter College in New York City, Kwong will discuss “Crossing Boundaries: Challenges of Combining the Roles of Activist, Scholar, Filmmaker and 
Journalist” Friday, May 11, from 3:15 to 5pm, in the Harry Crowe Room, 190 Atkinson Building, Keele campus. Ali Kazimi of York’s Department of Film will be the discussant.
Peter Kwong
Kwong has written extensively for popular publications, including The Nation, the International Herald Tribune and Agence Global. A documentary filmmaker, he won a CINE Golden Eagle Award for co-producing a PBS program on immigration and most recently co-produced Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province for HBO. As a community activist, he regularly speaks to the media on immigrant and labour issues, and sits on boards of directors of such organizations as Downtown Community TV and The New Press.
Kwong was named one of the 100 most influential Asian Americans of the decade by A Magazine and has received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarship from Hunter College.
He is the co-author with his wife, Dusanka Miscevic, a Chinese historian, of two books: Chinese America: The Untold Story of America’s Oldest New Community and Chinese Americans: An Immigrant Experience. He is also the author of Forbidden Workers: Chinese Illegal Immigrants and American Labor, The New Chinatown and Chinatown, New York: Labor and Politics 1930-1950.
The talk is sponsored by the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR).
For more information, contact YCAR at ycar@yorku.ca.
