Home | Othering & Belonging Institute

WE ALL BELONG IN THE CIRCLE OF HUMAN CONCERN

Othering is the problem of our time. Belonging is the solution.

The Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley advances groundbreaking approaches to transforming structural marginalization and inequality. We are scholars, organizers, communicators, researchers, artists, and policymakers committed to building a world where all people belong.

Single-Family Zoning in California: A Statewide Analysis

This report culminates a six-year investigation into restrictive land-use policies in California — namely single-family residential zoning — and their ramifications for racial residential segregation, affordable housing, and life outcomes. Single-family zoning accounts for over 95% of total residential land area in the state.

Featured Work

Thousands of protester gathering at Grand Central Station demanding ceasefire in Gaza

Blog
November 1, 2023

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...

News
April 19, 2024

Belonging Without Othering

The root of all inequality is the process of othering – and its solution is the practice of belonging. We all yearn for connection and community, but we live in a time when calls for further division along the well-wrought lines of religion, race...

Publication
April 17, 2024

Targeted Universalism Case Study: Vision for Baltimore

Vision for Baltimore (V4B) is a successful program at Baltimore City Schools (BCS) designed to provide annual vision screenings for all students and, when necessary, to provide follow-up eye exams and eyeglasses at no cost to families. Download PDF...

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

SEE ALL AREAS

Collage of square photos framed in white

Arts and Cultural Strategy

Othering & Belonging Conference

Illustration of two hillsides — one tinted blue, one green — descend on a waterway from opposite sides. The hillsides are close but do not touch; instead, they are connected by a small bridge.

Bridging & Belonging

Painting of indigenous people belonging to the Lummi Nation looking to the horizon. The figures at the foreground face away from the viewer, and we see colorful traditional garb. In the background is a dim, blue-grey body of water and a thin line of mountains far beyond.

Climate Justice

Flattened stylized illustration of three people — one woman with black hair, another woman with a white hat and brown hair, and a Black man with cropped black hair — all wearing masks with smiles printed on them.

Health

Watercolor illustration with the earth at the center with various foods — chicken, corn, peppers, mangoes, and so on — revolving around it. We see mostly South America, Africa, and the Atlantic Ocean as well as partial views of Europe and North America.

Food Systems

The San Francisco Bay is reimagined in a temporally collapsed manner; in the foreground, indigenous Ohlone people gather on marshland and in boats, smoke from fires rising above their village. In the background, we see the present-day skyline of San Francisco filled with skyscrapers and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Housing

Islamophobia

Close-up illustration of a large hand writes with a pencil; four small figures including one person in a wheelchair hold the hand up

Narrative Power

An illustration featuring tens of people ascending an escalator at four different levels. The escalator zig-zags left and right, alternating at each level. The illustration is on a bright yellow background and blue foreground.

Targeted Universalism

Transformative Research Toolkit

Introduction We have seen and participated in transformative research strategies that defeated proposed jail expansions, won millions of dollars for community-prioritized programs, and built new community-led organizations that changed a political...

Featured Publications

Principles for Reframing the National Security Narrative

Our public discourse is seeded with dangerous and counterproductive ideas concerning national security that are so deeply embedded we may often be unaware that we, as story tellers, are invoking or reinforcing them in our own narrations. Thus, over...

Image grab from structural racism video.

Structural Racism Explained

The “Structural Racism Explained” video draws upon many varied sources in formulating specific definitions for different types of racism. The video and prompts provided in this video and teaching guide are designed primarily for teachers to help students clarify and sharpen their understanding of the material.

Rebuilding Public Power

This 90-minute workshop dives into the history of how corporate power is organized in the United States and contemporary cases of how growing corporate power has rolled back successful gains in democratic rights, environmental justice, migrant...

Archived photo of freed Black slaves standing in a field.

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...

Racial justice protestors marching, one person holds a sign reading "It's 2020... Why are we still Asking 4 Equality?"

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...

Donald Trump stands at a podium wearing a red tie and Navy suit about to speak at a rally. Trump signs displayed by attendees in the background.

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...

Othering is the problem of our time. Belonging is the solution.

Featured Work

Areas of Work

Areas of Work

Featured Publications

In the Media