Featured Content

Updating Our Segregation Research for the 2020 Census

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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A VISION OF AN INCLUSIVE FUTURE

Together, we are Othering & Belonging

The Othering & Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley is a vibrant hub of scholars, researchers, organizers, strategic communicators, policymakers, and community partners working to find new ways to identify and eliminate the barriers to an inclusive, just, and sustainable world.

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Featured Work

Illustration of Panel of Good Conflict
  • Blog
  • October 21, 2021
Blog: The Role of Religion in Bridging Work
"When I took my shahada," said Curtis Toler, "my past sins were erased and I could start a new life." Curtis had spent many years as a high-ranking gang leader in Chicago, and he had hurt many people. But he had reached what author Amanda Ripley...
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  • Publication
  • October 15, 2021
Redefining Who Belongs
Recent acute instances of failed political leadership—particularly around the pandemic and an ongoing lack of action to protect Black lives—have shone a bright light on questions essential to our future as a country: Who are we? Who are we becoming? Who must we become if we are to create a different world where everyone belongs?
Islamophobia art
  • Publication
  • September 29, 2021
Islamophobia Through the Eyes of Muslims
The Othering & Belonging Institute developed and administered this national survey between October 14 and November 2, 2020, among the US Muslim population (citizens and noncitizen residents who live and/or work in the US) to understand the prevalence...

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
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 Justice
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
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Islamophobia
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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

Marchers in the 1960s demanding welfare rights

Fighting Poverty with SNAP

This report accounts for the value of SNAP in helping low-income individuals and families acquire food, particularly during times of economic hardship.
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Segregation map of the US

The Roots of Structural Racism Project

The Roots of Structural Racism Project was unveiled in June 2021 after several years of investigating the persistence of racial residential segregation across the United States.
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Climate Refugees

This report argues that a comprehensive framework for climate-induced displaced persons forced to cross international borders to be considered “climate refugees” is necessary.
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Explore Othering and Belonging

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  • 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.
A social media promo featuring portraits of the three speakers hovering over images of San Francisco homes. Text reads "Join OBI for a Twitter Spaces Convo focusing on the racial segregation of the Bay Area using the 2020 Census."
Oct
25
  • October 25, 2021, 7PM - 9PM PDT
#OBIRoots Conversation on Racial Segregation in the Bay Area and the 2020 Census
Join us Monday, Oct. 25 at 7pm PT / 10pm ET to hear from OBI researchers Stephen Menendian and Samir Gambhir as well as housing advocate Darrell Owens for a Twitter Spaces conversation where they will discuss the current state of residential segregation in the Bay Area, what new census data reveals, and the solutions to racial residential inequality. 
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  • Newsletters
E-Newsletter Archive
An Archive of past issues of our bi-weekly newsletter.