Berkeley Law Voices Carry

In this episode, host Gwyneth Shaw talks to Professor john a. powell, co-author of the new book Belonging Without Othering: How We Save Ourselves and the World, which was published earlier this year by Stanford University Press. 

powell is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of civil rights and civil liberties and a wide range of issues including race, structural racism, ethnicity, housing, poverty, and democracy and has taught and written for decades on these topics. He’s a professor at Berkeley Law as well as a professor of African American Studies and Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley, holds the Robert D. Haas Chancellor’s Chair in Equity and Inclusion. powell is also a Berkeley Law alum who joined our faculty in 2012, and is the founding director of the Othering & Belonging Institute, a UC Berkeley research institute that brings together scholars, community advocates, communicators, and policymakers to create transformative change toward a more equitable world. 

In his new book, powell and co-author Stephen Menendian tackle one of the most pressing issues in our society, especially in this contentious election year: How can we find common ground as human beings when the roots of inequality — the practice of creating division among ourselves along racial, religious, ethnic, sexual, and caste lines — so easily divide us? They make the case for adopting a paradigm of belonging that does not require the creation of an “other” that hinges on transitioning from narrow to expansive identities, even if that means challenging seemingly benevolent forms of community-building based on othering.

To learn more about powell and his work:

• Othering & Belonging Institute
• Belonging without Othering: How We Save Ourselves and the World
• Plessy v. Ferguson and the Legacy of “Separate but Equal” After 125 Years
• Uprooting Authoritarianism: Deconstructing the Stories behind Narrow Identities and Building a Society of Belonging
• Racing to Justice: Transforming Our Conceptions of Self and Other to Build an Inclusive Society

About

“Berkeley Law Voices Carry” is a podcast hosted by Gwyneth Shaw in Berkeley Law's Office of Communications about how the school’s faculty, students, and staff are making an impact — in California, across the country, and around the world — through pathbreaking scholarship, hands-on legal training, and advocacy. 

Production by Yellow Armadillo Studios.

See the episode page on the Berkeley Law Podcast hub for transcript and more information.

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