Moderator and IAJS Faculty Co-Director Brian Lowery with panelists David W. Blight, Bonnie McDonald, and Siying Qu, credit: Tonal Williams
What Can Become of Us?
An innovative approach to a national conversation inspired by art, public programs, and essays
Explore how we envision new perspectives on migration, America's changing communities, and how people come together across differences.
Much is said about what divides us. What if we focused instead on what can bring us together?
Stanford University's Institute for Advancing Just Societies (IAJS) and Zócalo Public Square, a unit of Arizona State University Media Enterprise, are leading an exploration of this topic through a nationwide program inviting everyone to envision new perspectives on migration, America’s changing communities, and how people come together across differences.
This year-long series activates four regions of the United States and highlights newly commissioned works of art—visual, textile, and dance—to inspire a national conversation through public programs and essays, and to work toward a better future.
Storytelling partnership
IAJS is honored to partner with Los Angeles-based Zócalo Public Square to produce this program. IAJS and Zócalo are closely collaborating on every aspect of the project. Zócalo combines experiential programs and journalism to examine essential questions in a broad-minded and accessible spirit.
Global audience
Our “What Can Become of Us?” materials will be collected and shared on a website, including related essays by scholars and writers, which will be offered for syndication. The four events will be livestreamed concurrently on YouTube and will subsequently air on Arizona PBS. The art will be exhibited at each venue as long as possible and then in perpetuity at Stanford.
How Do We See Ourselves in Each Other? (May 2025, Asheville)
View Asheville event highlights
How Is Migration Woven Into America? (August 2025, Chicago)
What is the Language of Taste? (October 2025, Brooklyn)
An innovative approach
Key cultural institutions
Four events, free and open to the public, will be held in the four ordinal regions of the United States (North, South, East, and West). Our venues will be key cultural institutions and gathering spaces.
Lively public conversations
The centerpiece of each event will be a public conversation featuring scholars, cultural critics, and community leaders with new perspectives on migration, America's diverse communities, and how people come together across differences.
New works from respected creatives
IAJS has commissioned four new works from respected American creatives examining race and ethnicity deeply in their practices. Each event will be catalyzed by one piece, which will be presented by the artist.
Receptions fostering deeper connections
A reception will conclude each program so the audience can find deeper connections with the works, the artist, the panelists, and one other.
A national conversation
“What Is the Language of Taste?” — Brooklyn, October 2025
This program was inspired by Speak Sing Shout: We, Too, Sing America (2025) by Pakistani American artist Sarah K. Khan. The piece consists of eight blue and white porcelain serving vessels featuring images of spices, delicate flowers, and incense as depicted in the 16th-century Sultanate period recipe book The Book of Delights.
“How Is Migration Woven Into America?” — Chicago, August 2025
Our second event was held in August 2025 at Chicago’s Zhou B Art Center, founded by Chinese immigrants. It featured weaver Kira Dominguez Hultgren, who used patterns from a variety of sources to challenge understandings of race and ethnicity, and of world building and world belonging.
“How Do We See Ourselves in Each Other?” — Asheville, May 2025
We began in May 2025 at the Asheville Art Museum, aiding its Hurricane Helene recovery effort. This event focused on the sub-question of “How Do We See Ourselves in Each Other?” The featured artwork, by Pedro Lasch, involves a black mirror that allows viewers to see themselves in images of Mexica and European art.
Photo credit: Nikolas Liepins/Ethography for Stanford IAJS
How Do We Dance with Legacy? - Stanford, March 2026
The series culminated at Stanford in March 2026, with an original performance by Bharatanatyam choreographer and dancer Mythili Prakash and a panel discussion. Mythili’s piece, Durga's Daughters, features two present-day young women, daughters of a Hindu goddess, grappling with ancient philosophy, wisdom, and magic in an increasingly empirical world.