E-Newsletter Archive

An Archive of past issues of our bi-weekly newsletter.

Our policy on publishing blog & opinion pieces

Consistent with our mission and values, as a multi-disciplinary research center that seeks to advance a world of belonging without othering, the Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI) conducts research, develops narrative strategy, and supports...

2025 Study: New Zealand, Hawaii continue to lead on inclusion

BERKELEY, CA: New Zealand has come out on top of a list of the most inclusive countries for the fourth consecutive year in 2025, according to the latest findings of an annual study published Thursday by a UC Berkeley research center. Each year the...

Listening to the Listeners

Could you knock on the door of someone that you disagree with and have an open, connecting conversation? In 2024, canvassers across five states set out with this very question in mind. This wasn’t your typical political canvassing. Instead, it was a...

Is Civil Society the New Battlefield for Democracy?

Changes in the political order—globally and nationally—are part and parcel of human history. In 2025, the process of becoming less and less inclusive and democratic is seemingly leaving no country unscathed. The arc of history is bending in the...

OBI publishes city-level data on Black-White disparities

BERKELEY, CA: UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute has released a new tool designed to track progress and setbacks for Black residents at the municipal level across recent decades. The dashboard highlights disparities in key areas such as...

A Belonging Story

This is the second in a series from director john powell on ongoing assaults on our democracy and communities, and how we may think about, respond to, and confront them. In my first piece for this series, I touched on core norms I believe many of us...

Fighting Forward Essay Series

FIGHTING FORWARD is a new essay series OBI is releasing over the month of October authored by director john powell on the ongoing assaults on our democracy and communities, and how we may respond to and confront them. Essay 1: What We Share The...

An evening with john a. powell

An evening with john a. powell on October 6, 2025, centered on challenges facing southern Oregon and the possibilities of creating bridges and working together to address our most critical problems.

What We Share

This is the first in a series of discussion pieces we’re releasing this month from director john powell on ongoing assaults on our democracy and communities, and how we may respond to and confront them. Join us in a livestream conversation related to topics in this series on Wednesday October 15 at 10:00 am PST.

The Roots of Structural Racism Project [2025 Update]

Note: This is our 2025 update to the our report published in 2021. Click here to view the original. -- The Othering and Belonging Institute is pleased to unveil a major update and extensive addition to our “Roots of Structural Racism” project...

Comparing Major Measures of Racial Residential Segregation in the United States Over Time

Introduction The authors have many people to thank, beginning with Arthur Gailes, Phuong Tseng, Chih-Wei Hsu, Joseph Ahrenholtz, Ipso Cantong, Peter Matingly, Karina French, Abby Steckel, Zoya Gheisar, Varun Fuloria and Shahan Shahid Nawaz. Racial...

Landmark Berkeley segregation report updated with latest data

BERKELEY, CA: A landmark 2021 report from UC Berkeley's Othering & Belonging Institute which found racial residential segregation in the United States was getting worse by the decade received a major update Wednesday, with new data, mapping features...

Diversity and Segregation

Introduction Segregation is a complicated, nuanced concept, and one that has eluded simple definition and universal measure despite decades of intellectual effort. Some scholars believe that segregation is really a composite of five concepts, while...

The Forum with john a. powell

On September 28, 2025, Professor john a. powell joined Dean Malcolm Clemens Young at The Forum at Grace Cathedral for a conversation on Belonging Without Othering. In this dialogue, powell explored the urgent need to bridge across lines of race, faith, and ideology at a time of deep social division.

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E-Newsletter Archive

An Archive of past issues of our bi-weekly newsletter.
Oct
30

What I Saw in Gaza

Dr. Feroze Sidhwa volunteered with the World Health Organization at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, March 25 – April 2, 2024, and again from March 3 – April 2, 2025, with MedGlobal, an American Non-governmental Organization (NGO). In...

Our policy on publishing blog & opinion pieces

Consistent with our mission and values, as a multi-disciplinary research center that seeks to advance a world of belonging without othering, the Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI) conducts research, develops narrative strategy, and supports...