Deborah Wong Homegrown Heroes Full Interview
Item
Title
Deborah Wong Homegrown Heroes Full Interview
Identifier
2024.017.020
Type
Moving Image
Description
This interview with Dr. Deborah Wong, conducted on May 8, 2024, explores her life and work as an ethnomusicologist and social justice advocate. Born in New York City in 1959 to a Chinese-American father and white-American mother, Dr. Wong reflects on her multicultural upbringing and the racial dynamics she experienced while growing up on the East Coast and in Richmond, Virginia. Her academic path began with a love for music, leading her to ethnomusicology, which allowed her to study music in its cultural and social context. After earning her PhD, Dr. Wong taught at Pomona College before joining UC Riverside in 1996, where she focused on Asian American performance and music as tools for community building and racial justice. Her research includes documenting Riverside's Asian American history, preserving the city's Chinatown, and serving on the Riverside Coalition for Police Accountability following the 1998 police killing of Tyisha Miller. Dr. Wong emphasizes the power of music in shaping identity and social change, especially within marginalized communities. She continues to champion public-facing research and activism, hoping her work will inspire future generations to build on the legacy of community-based justice and equity.
Subject
Music
Asian American
Solidarity
University of California Riverside
Riverside Coalition for Police Accountability
Spatial Coverage
New York City, New York
Riverside, (Calif.)
Temporal Coverage
1959 - 2024
Creator
Scherly Virgill
Date
5/8/2024
Contributor
Deborah Wong
Format
.mov
Language
English
Rights
