• News
  • June 30, 2025

Structural Racism

Structural Racism: The Dynamics of Opportunity and Race in America, a groundbreaking new book by OBI Assistant Director Stephen Menendian, explains how racial inequality in the United States is produced and perpetuated and what should be done about...
  • News
  • February 7, 2025

Racing to Justice (Second edition)

In Racing to Justice, renowned social justice advocate john a. powell persuasively argues that we have yet to achieve a truly post-racial society and that there is much work to be done to redeem the American promise of inclusive democracy. Gathered...
  • News
  • December 3, 2024

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...
  • 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...
  • 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 &...
  • News
  • August 23, 2022

Introducing our inaugural Global Senior Fellow

We are proud to announce that author, poet, and public intellectual Báyò Akómoláfé has joined the Democracy & Belonging Forum as its inaugural Global Senior Fellow . In this role, Bayo will act as the Forum’s “provocateur in residence”, guiding Forum...
  • News

Launching the transatlantic Democracy & Belonging Forum

June 15, 2022: Today, OBI is thrilled to launch its first global initiative, the Democracy and Belonging Forum , a new network for civic leaders in Europe and the US who are committed to countering pernicious polarization and democratic degradation...
  • Press Release
  • May 7, 2021

OBI scholar Jovan Scott Lewis appointed to CA taskforce on reparations

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Friday that Jovan Scott Lewis, an associate professor of Geography and Othering & Belonging Institute-affiliated faculty member, has been appointed to the state's first taskforce created to study reparations for slavery.
  • News
  • May 13, 2021

Introducing the 2021 Toward Belonging Creative Fellow Alex Nezam

We are thrilled to announce our inaugural Toward Belonging Creative Fellow is Alexander Nezam, an experimental filmmaker who aims to use the power of filmmaking and participatory design to build belonging.
  • News

Get-out-the-vote digital short nominated for Writers Guild of America award

“Can You See It?,” a get-out-the-vote (GOTV) digital short produced by OBI’s Blueprint for Belonging program was been nominated for Best Promotion at the Writers Guild Awards.
  • Press Release

Poll: Anti-maskers small minority of Inland Empire voters

Greater than 4 in 5 Inland Empire voters support requiring people to wear face coverings or masks inside public spaces, and 86 percent consider it important that local public officials wear masks, a new poll of California voters finds.
  • Publication
  • February 2, 2021

Health Equity and the Circle of Human Concern

On February 1, 2021, Institute director john a. powell and staff researcher EJ Toppin published an article in the American Medical Association’s Journal of Ethics.
  • Press Release
  • June 26, 2020

California approves latest 'opportunity map' for affordable housing sites

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BERKELEY, CA: A California state agency has approved for the third consecutive year the use of an opportunity map developed by the Othering & Belonging Institute and partners designed to guide the siting of affordable housing...
  • Video
  • February 18, 2020

Video: Architect Rodney Leon on Black Public Art

Architect Rodney Leon presented a talk on February 18, 2020 at the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) as part of UC Berkeley's 400 Years of Resistance to Slavery and Injustice initiative. The presentation focused on Leon's work...
  • Video
  • February 3, 2020

Othering & Belonging Institute hosts symposium in Paris

On Jan. 24, more than 35 thought leaders from across Europe and the US gathered at Sciences Po in Paris for the Othering & Belonging Institute’s first European convening. Organized in partnership with More in Common, Queen Mary University of London...

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  • Newsletters

E-Newsletter Archive

An Archive of past issues of our bi-weekly newsletter.
Sep
24
  • September 24, 2025, 3:30 - 5 p.m.

Geography Colloquium with Anand Pandian

Anand Pandian is Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, with a joint appointment in Earth & Planetary Sciences. His books include A Possible Anthropology: Methods for Uneasy Times, and Something Between Us: The Everyday Walls of American Life...
  • Podcast
  • March 23, 2025

Podcast: Belonging without Othering

In the conversation, powell drew on his work at the Othering & Belonging Institute and his own personal journey to highlight how bridging practices can transform divisions into opportunities for deeper connection. He offered practical insights on moving beyond the “us versus them” mindset and fostering belonging in families, workplaces, and communities.