Never before have as many countries simultaneously been in the midst of the systematic undermining of institutions and rights, what scholars call “democratic backsliding.” Last year marked 25 years of democratic decline globally. Wherever anti...
Dylan Cleverly is a writer and artist based in Boston, MA. He will be pursuing a Master's degree in Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices in Architecture at Columbia University in the fall. Our right to imagine is under siege. While the...
Othering and Belonging Institute’s Resident Cultural Strategist, and UC Berkeley lecturer, Chelsea Gregory has devoted her life to weaving art, culture, and justice together to create spaces of belonging
The Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (ICIJ) is composed of over 35 organizations that serve immigrant communities in the Inland Empire of Southern California. The Inland Empire region includes the counties of Riverside and San Bernardino. Geographically, the region...
Dylan Cleverly is a writer and artist based in Boston, MA. He will be pursuing a Master's degree in Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices in Architecture at Columbia University in the fall. All images published with permission from Adam...
True North Organizing Network is a group engaged in community organizing in California’s “Far North,” especially the counties of Humboldt and Del Norte, and on Tribal lands. This region of California is often left “off of the map”...
As the world darkens and shadows fall, it is difficult to find a clear path forward to see the light. In my previous reflection, I explored the challenges of this moment, and insisted on three key principles: two limits that should not be...
Contemporary debates often treat belonging as a fragile or novel aspiration—something that must be newly invented or defended against the complexities of modernity. Yet many of the norms, institutions, and moral commitments that structure modern societies already contain seeds of belonging...
On March 20th, OBI Data Analyst Kate Knowles presented work from the US Segregation Project at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers in San Francisco. She talked about the relationship between income and racial segregation...
The MAGA agenda has expanded under two Trump administrations, fraying the moral and social ties that are foundational to fostering connections and organizing toward progress. Communities are increasingly fractured by economic stress, political anger, and a media ecosystem that reinforces biases rather than seeking shared truths.
Lawrence Benito, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, on bridging tensions in Chicago and why democracy depends on it.
We currently live in a world that is rapidly changing. And depending on where you stand, many would say it is for the worse. Long before the recent attacks on Iran, the prime minister of Canada, Mark Carney, made the observation at Davos in mid...
At a first glance, the European Union – and the European identity centred on it – might seem like a good example of what belonging without othering might look like. This is certainly how the EU would like to imagine itself. As the European Commission...
Join an interactive online workshop exploring the political economies and geographies of climate-related (im)mobilities and environmental injustices. Through a series of global maps, we will collectively examine how climate change, extraction, supply chains, migration, displacement, dispossession, environmental harm and global inequality intersect across space.
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...
Register for O&B 2026 today!
Join us in LOUISVILLE, KY on October 9-10, 2026 for our next Othering & Belonging Conference. Registration is now open!
Join over 1,000 changemakers for two dynamic days of relationship-building, strategy-strengthening, and highly interactive sessions designed to strengthen our collective work in building a bigger "we." Click here to learn more about O&B26.
