The Journal offers a comparative focus on different categories and axes of stratification and difference and emphasizes the dynamic interrelationship between them. The intent is to establish a broad, analytic framework by which distinct and overlapping forms of marginalization and inequality can be understood and challenged.
The Journal is committed to a redrawing of the boundaries between the fields of academic research, policy analysis, the arts, and engaged practice and aims to underscore the crucial importance of integrating different fields of practice and scholarship in order to effectively challenge Othering, advance Belonging, and expand the circle of human concern.
Othering & Belonging features articles that look at specific forms of marginalization, but also emphasize the dynamic interrelationship between them. To this end, the journal aims to create and sustain a dialogue where, for example, a specific social problem (e.g., residential segregation, healthcare reform, incarceration) can be understood and examined by how it impacts different groups. Read the Journal.
Othering & Belonging Conferences
The first 2015 Othering & Belonging Conference was held on April 24-26, 2015. Click here for our conference report. Thank you to our phenomenal line-up of visionaries and changemakers who were part of the first Othering and Belonging conference: Andrew Solomon, bell hooks, Naomi Klein, Charles Blow, Ai-jen Poo, Manuel Pastor, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Joanna Macy, Luis Garden Acosta, john a. powell, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, the late Lynn Manning, Michael Omi, Angela Glover Blackwell, Judith Smith and the AXIS Dance Company, Destiny Arts and the Destiny Youth Group, and to our wonderful host Shakti Butler. Watch our post-conference video recap of the Othering and Belonging conference held in Oakland, CA April 24-26, 2015.
The Othering & Belonging Framework
The Othering & Belonging Institute has long believed that the frame of “Othering” provides a critical perspective to our common objective of building a more inclusive society. The goal of the Othering & Belonging Conferences were to provide a gathering place and a forum where a diverse audience could assemble together for an examination of what we mean by Othering and Belonging, how the work of both happens across contexts, why it matters, and what it means for our work and communications strategies.
A major theme of the conference was to avoid argument or debate over which forms of marginality are most extreme and instead the focus of the conference agenda, and the choice of speakers, was to seek to examine multiple expressions of Othering, in search of common solutions that promote belonging. Another main goal of the conference was to impart a sense of belonging to participants through their experience of the conference itself, build community among people grappling with these issues, and to inspire participants to continue to integrate concepts and practices related to Belonging in their work.
