Featured Work

The Power of Bridging

A research-backed guide for building bridges across difference in any area of our lives, from esteemed civil rights scholar john a. powell, edited and developed with the Othering & Belonging Institute's Rachelle Galloway-Popotas. We don't want to...

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson chats with john a. powell

On Sept. 10, 2024, Othering & Belonging Institute Director john a. powell interviewed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk about her memoir, Lovely One.

We Belong to Each Other: A Call To End the Violence

With the death toll in Gaza climbing past 8,500 people, including more than 3,500 children, and hundreds more being killed each day in Israel's relentless bombardment of homes and other civilian infrastructure, we at OBI join a growing global chorus...

Areas of Work

The faculty, staff, researchers, and affiliates of the Othering & Belonging Institute work together with multidisciplinary approaches to learn, research, and construct solutions for society's most pressing issues. Our programs and initiatives are all designed to effect transformative change.

SEE ALL AREAS

Areas of Work

The faculty, staff, researchers, and affiliates of the Othering & Belonging Institute work together with multidisciplinary approaches to learn, research, and construct solutions for society's most pressing issues. Our programs and initiatives are all designed to effect transformative change.

SEE ALL AREAS

Featured Publications

In the Media

Berkeley News: Bridging divides: from anger and mistrust to belonging — and hope

In this Berkeley News story, Othering and Belonging Institute director john a. powell and OBI Campus Bridging Project leader Julia Mckeown share expertise and perspective around ways to bridge at UC Berkeley during a polarizing time.

Nonprofit Quarterly: A conversation with john a. powell on how to achieve belonging without othering

OBI Director john a. powell speaks with Nonprofit Quarterly about his new book, co-authored with OBI Assistant Director Stephen Menendian, Belonging Without Othering: How We Save Ourselves and the World. This is the first of a two-part interview.

Washington Post: What to know about Juneteenth and its historical significance

June 19 became a kind of July 4 celebration for African Americans, john a. powell, the director of the Othering and Belonging Institute at the University of California at Berkeley, told The Post. “It’s particularly important for African Americans...

The Chronicle of Philanthropy: A Hopeful New Way to Pursue Racial Equity

When john a. powell arrived at the University of California at Berkeley about a decade ago, he found a competition that spoke to a struggle outside academia. The nationally renowned civil-liberties scholar (who spells his name all lowercase) had been picked to lead...

Berkeley News: Facing legal peril, Trump stokes racial resentment in his base

UC Berkeley scholars, including Othering & Belonging Institute Director john a. powell, say that by attacking the prosecutors and judges in his cases, the former president is trying to discredit the charges, rally supporters — and undermine the rule...

Berkeley Public Health: The legacy of eugenics

Professor Osagie Obasogie has teamed up with the Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB) to launch a two-year project called Legacies of Eugenics. It’s a national conversation on the history of eugenics and the ways it still shapes various aspects of...