A cutout of john powell speaking at an event, his arms are raised and forward in a slight gesture. Behind him is a circle made of OBI's colors.
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.

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Featured Content

Deconstructing the 'Housing Crisis'

For a several years now I’ve observed with growing alarm, then despair, as California’s housing woes—astronomical prices, skyrocketing rents and rates of annual appreciation, knee-jerk opposition to new housing, an epidemic of displacement and...

Featured Work

Illustration of hands
  • Blog
  • November 16, 2022
Connecting the Local and the Global
Where I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, much of our drinking water comes from the Chattahoochee River. The river, whose name comes from the Creek/Muscogee words chato ("rock") and huchi ("painted"), marks the current Alabama-Georgia border and the...
Illustration of many people tending to a flower
  • News
  • October 17, 2022
Creating art for belonging
The Democracy & Belonging Forum, an initiative from the Othering and Belonging Institute (OBI) at the University of California, Berkeley, teamed up with Fine Acts to produce a collection of powerful visual artworks on the topic of Bridging &...
Inclusiveness Index world map
  • Press Release
  • October 13, 2022
Hawaii again leads as most inclusive state; New Zealand tops global rankings
For immediate release BERKELEY: Hawaii ranked as the most inclusive state in the country for the fifth straight year, according to the latest study from UC Berkeley's Othering & Belonging Institute released Thursday, followed by Nevada and Maryland...

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.

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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
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Arts and Cultural Strategy
People targeted by facial recognition software
Technology & Belonging
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
microsite banner islamophobia
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
Featured Content

Bridging to Belonging Case Series

This case series captures real-world examples of bridging to belonging through written cases and podcast interviews. In this series, we analyze a range of breaking moments and bridging opportunities across different scales and contexts, such as schools, movements, governments and communities. They “show and hear” how these concepts play out on the ground. We hear from leaders implementing the work, and individuals who have experienced the transformation of bridging to create belonging.

Featured Publications

A guy browsing the repository on his computer

The Structural Racism Remedies Repository

This a repository of policy-based recommendations for addressing structural and systemic racism or advancing racial equity drawn from a vast array of published material.
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Cultures of Care

OBI is proud to launch Cultures of Care, a collection of profiles of people who are practicing collective care in affirmative, unconventional and even insurgent ways. Click above to experience the project, watch the videos, listen to the podcast, read up on our interviews and essays, and use the learning guides.
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A residential Oakland skyline with a HOLC redlining map in the background

What the 2020 Census reveals about segregation

As part of our ongoing research into racial residential segregation, we offer two new reports based on the latest demographic data of the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally using the recently-released 2020 Census. We've also significantly revamped our interactive web tool.
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Explore Othering and Belonging

Image grab from video shows john a powell
  • Video
  • August 7, 2015
Black Lives Matter, A Year After Ferguson (featuring john a. powell)
Director john a. powell is featured in this video produced by AJ+ one year after Michael Brown's killing in Ferguson, Missouri.
Recharge speakers Sarah Crowell, John a. powell, and Lisa Kefauver
Dec
8
  • December 8, 2022, 5pm - 6:30pm PST
Recharge - Better Together
A unique end-of-year opportunity to connect online with each other and our deepest yearnings to build a vibrant planet based on belonging.
An illustrated laptop depicts floating shapes and images
  • Video
  • August 12, 2021
Animated Explainer Video Series
Our animated explainer videos break down some of the key principles that guide our work at the Othering & Belonging Institute. Follow the links below to view the videos, to read transcripts of the audio, and to learn more about each concept.