Who Belongs?

Latest Episodes:

EP 23 - Racism and COVID-19: The historical, political, and social foundations Apr 30, 2020

Show notes

In this episode of Who Belongs? we hear from a three-guest panel of Berkeley faculty who provide various perspectives on the different forms of racism we’ve been witnessing since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hear about the experiences of Asian Americans who are facing a surge in hate crimes, the disparate impacts on black and brown communities in terms of the rates of death, and about how politicians are using the crisis to engage in racial fear mongering. But the panelists don’t focus so much on the incidents themselves as on the structures that have created the conditions for these forms of racism to emerge with such force. The panelists examine these issues by placing them in historical, social, and political contexts so we can think about how to respond to the crisis in ways that doesn’t reinforce the structures that set the stage for what we’re currently experiencing. The guests are Catherine Ceniza Choy, who is a Professor of Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies, and Comparative Ethnic Studies; Ian Haney López, who is a Professor of Law and Director of the Racial Politics Project, and the author of Dog-Whistle Politics, and the more recent book Merge Left; and Osagie K. Obasogie, who is a Professor of Bioethics and chair of our Institute’s Health Disparities research cluster. For a transcript of this episode visit: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs/covid19-racism

EP 22 - How this Bay Area food bank is responding to a surge in demand; with Alex Boskovich Apr 22, 2020

Show notes

In this episode of Who Belongs? we speak with Alex Boskovich, who is the Government Relations Officer at the Alameda County Community Food Bank based in Oakland, which collects and distributes food and other resources to about 300 partner organizations throughout Alameda county, including food pantries, churches, senior centers, schools, and other organizations. Just prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 the food bank had partnered with the Othering & Belonging Institute’s Civic Engagement Narrative Change project for some trainings on cultivating inclusive messaging and developing an identity that can bridge across community to build voice and power. The focus of the interview is on the sudden and very powerful impact that pandemic has had on the demand for the services provided by the Alameda County Community Food Bank, and Alex’s observations on how the crisis has magnified the gross inequities in society in how different populations are experiencing the pandemic when it comes to access to food. For more information and to access a transcript visit: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs/food-bank

EP 21 - ICE raids, farmworkers, & COVID-19 w/ Seth M. Holmes, Miriam Magaña López, and Vera L. Chang Apr 14, 2020

Show notes

In this episode of Who Belongs? we’re looking at the reality facing undocumented immigrants and migrant farmworkers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hear from three researchers who discuss some of their recent and upcoming articles that look at ICE raids targeting immigrant communities despite shelter-in-place orders, as well as the conditions of farmworkers who are putting themselves at risk in order to keep the country fed. For articles mentioned in this episode visit: 1. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/31/ice-raids-coronavirus-n95-masks 2. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/14/will-we-have-food-coronavirus-pandemic 3. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305704 The guests are: Seth M. Holmes, PhD, MD, is on faculty in the Division of Society and Environment and the Joint Program in Medical Anthropology. A cultural and medical anthropologist and physician, he has worked on social hierarchies, health inequities, and the ways in which such asymmetries are naturalized, normalized, and resisted in the context of transnational im/migration, agro-food systems, and health care. He has received national and international awards from the fields of anthropology, sociology, and geography, including the Margaret Mead Award. In addition to scholarly publications, he has written for popular media such as The Huffington Post and Salon.com and spoken on multiple NPR, PRI, Pacifica Radio and Radio Bilingüe radio programs. Miriam Magaña López is a first-generation immigrant from Jalisco, Mexico. Miriam has a BA in Anthropology from Macalester College and an MPH from the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. Currently she works as a Research and Policy Analyst at the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, primarily focused on understanding how economic, political and social structures impact the health of immigrant farm workers. Recently, she conducted ethnographic fieldwork among vineyard workers to understand how employment regimes influence vineyard workers’ integration in Sonoma Valley. Miriam is also a volunteer organizer with Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) focused on passing a Driver’s License for all bill and stopping the Hennepin County Sheriff Department from cooperating with ICE. Vera L. Chang is a UC Berkeley Environmental Science, Policy, and Management Doctoral Student; National Science Foundation Fellow; Clif Bar Family Foundation Fellow; and Berkeley Food Institute Researcher. Vera’s doctoral research focuses on agro-food systems, human rights, and social change. She is currently studying how worker-led movements can create shifts in power within U.S.-based corporate food chains. Vera recently completed a Solutions Journalism Network Fellowship to conduct an investigative reporting project on solutions to rampant sexual violence in U.S. agricultural fields. Her research and journalism have been highlighted by the Aspen Institute, Worldwatch Institute, and Center for Science in the Public Interest.

For a transcript of this episode, please click here: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/podcast-ice-raids-farmworkers-covid-19-crisis

EP 20 - Ian Haney López on Bernie Sanders and the Race-Class Message Mar 10, 2020

Show notes

In this episode of Who Belongs? we speak with Ian Haney Lopez, a professor of law here at UC Berkeley, about his new book: “Merge Left: Fusing Race and Class, Winning Elections, and Saving America.” The book puts forward the argument that the left can re-frame racism as a weapon of the rich by crafting messages that fuse race and class and build a cross-racial movement needed to beat powerful fear-based messaging and racial dog whistles. He gives us his take on the messages he hears coming out of the 2020 Democratic primary contest between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, and what he thinks Bernie needs to do to strengthen his appeal for a multi-racial movement. For a transcript of this interview visit: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs/merge-left

EP 19 - Surveying Black Women in Nevada with Erika Washington and Quintin Savwoir Jan 24, 2020

Show notes

In this episode of Who Belongs? we hear from two guests, Erika Washington and Quintin Savwoir from a civic engagement group in Nevada called Make it Work - Nevada. In the interview they discuss a recent survey they conducted of black women in their state to learn about the issues that are most pressing to them and how they feel about the candidates running in the 2020 presidential election. Erika is the executive director of Make it Work - Nevada, and Quentin is the group's political director. The organization does year-round civic engagement and policy change work to build the power, health and vitality of black families and communities in Nevada. For a transcript of this interview visit: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs/makeitworknevada

EP 18 - 400 Years of Resistance to Slavery Initiative at UC Berkeley; w/ Waldo Martin & Denise Herd Dec 18, 2019

Show notes

In this episode of Who Belongs? we hear from two guests about a year-long initiative at UC Berkeley marking the 400th anniversary of the start to slavery in North America. The initiative includes weekly events with scholars, activists, and artists from around the country reflecting on the enduring legacies of slavery and Jim Crow, looking at the Civil Rights era, our current era, and also trying to imagine a future based on justice, reconciliation, and belonging. The two guests are Denise Herd, and Waldo Martin. Denise is a professor in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley who is leading this campus initiative. She is also our Associate Director at the Othering and Belonging Institute. And Waldo Martin is a professor of US History at Berkeley who is also involved in the organizing around this initiative. To learn more about the initiative visit 400years.berkeley.edu

For a transcript of this episode visit: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs/400years And for more episodes of Who Belongs? visit belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs

EP 17 - Alicia Garza on Identity Politics and the 2020 US Presidential Election Dec 04, 2019

Show notes

In this episode of Who Belongs? we hear from Alicia Garza, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement and the principal of the Black Futures Lab, which is an organization that engages Black voters year round and works to stop corporate influence in progressive politics. Alicia recently authored a paper for the Othering and Belonging Institute, titled, “Identity Politics: Friend or Foe?” which this episode draws from. Alicia also gives her take on some of the candidates running in the 2020 US presidential election and how they approach identity politics. This episode is part of our Civic Engagement narrative change project series, and is guest hosted by Gerald Lenoir, who is the Institute’s Identity and Politics Strategy Analyst, and the former executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration as well as a former executive director of the San Francisco Black Coalition on AIDS.

To learn more about Black Futures Lab visit their website at https://blackfutureslab.org/
For a copy of Alicia's paper "Identity Politics: Friend or Foe?", visit: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/identity-politics-friend-or-foe
For more episodes of Who Belongs? visit our website here: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs
For a transcript of the episode, please click here: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/podcast-alicia-garza-identity-politics-and-2020-us-presidential-election

EP 16 - Mobilizing Hard-to-Count Populations for Census 2020 Nov 14, 2019

Show notes

In this episode of Who Belongs? we speak with Michael Gomez Daly, the director of the Inland Empowerment coalition, and Sky Allen, who is the coalition's census coordinator, about their efforts to mobilize people in southern California's Inland Empire ahead of the 2020 Census. This episode is another installment of the Civic Engagement Narrative Change project series, with the interview conducted by project researcher Josh Clark. For a transcript visit: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs/inlandempowerment

EP 15 - Journalist Lawrence Lanahan on Crossing Baltimore's Racial Divide Nov 05, 2019

Show notes

In this episode of Who Belongs?, we hear from journalist and author Lawrence Lanahan about his new book called The Lines Between Us: Two Families and a Quest to Cross Baltimore’s Racial Divide. The book weaves together three storylines about people trying to overcome a host of barriers to opportunity and integration in hyper-segregated Baltimore and its suburbs. The book is the culmination of years of research and reporting on segregation in Baltimore, and draws from Lawrence’s 50-episode radio series, also called “The Lines Between Us,” produced for the city’s WYPR station. For a transcript visit https://belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs/linesbetweenus

EP 14 - Voter Suppression, with Robert Greenwald and Carol Anderson Sep 19, 2019

Show notes

This episode of Who Belongs? is another installment of our Civic Engagement Narrative Change project series, with project researcher Josh Clark interviewing two guests: The first is Robert Greenwald, an award-winning producer and director who has a new film coming out on September 25 called “Suppressed: The fight to vote”, about voter suppression in the 2018 gubernatorial election in Georgia, and Carol Anderson, Professor of African American Studies at Emory University and author of the book One Person No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying our Democracy. To access a transcript of this interview, and for more episodes of Who Belongs visit https://belonging.berkeley.edu/podcast-voter-suppression-georgia-robert-greenwald-and-carol-anderson

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