Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

Julie Thao is finding ways to heal trauma in her Hmong community

May 14, 2021

Julie Thao '21Julie Thao graduates this year with a bachelor’s in Asian American and Asian diaspora studies from the Department of Ethnic Studies, and a minor in global public health. Here, Thao reflects on the impact of violence and war on her family, and why Hmong American history is ignored.

Jose Magana, L&S senior, on having faith in your journey

May 12, 2021

Jose Magana '21Graduating CalNerds scholar Jose Magana, a senior studying geophysics and seismology in the Earth and Planetary Sciences department, was uprooted from his life in El Salvador and forced to flee his country as an undocumented refugee. He overcame arduous life experiences to graduate from Berkeley this spring.

Kim Nalley, Ph.D. graduate, on the renaissance of Black protest music

May 18, 2021

Kim Nalley '21Kim Nalley graduated in May 2021 with a Ph.D. in history from the College of Letters & Science. In her dissertation, “G.I. Jazz,” she looks at African Americans as jazz artists, as well as occupiers, in post-World War II Germany.

Grad Student Spotlight: Rachel Lim, PhD candidate in Ethnic Studies

May 4, 2021

Republished from BCSR:

As part of our series spotlighting UC Berkeley graduate student research, BCSR recently had the opportunity to sit down with Rachel Lim, a PhD Candidate in Ethnic Studies studying Korean diaspora in the Americas. She is completing a dissertation entitled “Itinerant Belonging: Korean Transnational Migration to and from Mexico.” Her work has been recently published or is forthcoming in The Journal of Asian American Studies and Verge: Studies in Global Asias.

Read more:...

Dr. Jovan Lewis, L&S faculty, appointed to Newsom's Reparations Task Force

May 7, 2021

As the country continues to confront a history of racial injustice, deeply rooted in the legacy of slavery and systemic racism, today, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed five individuals to serve on the newly formed Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans. The formation of this task force was made possible by the Governor’s signing of AB 3121, authored by then-Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), which established a nine-member task force to inform Californians about slavery and explore ways the state might provide reparations.

Join us for a panel on April 1: The Long History and Present Surge of Anti-Asian Violence

March 25, 2021

Please join us on April 1 at 5pm PDT for a panel discussion on rising anti-Asian violence in America. This timely panel will consider both the long history of anti-Asian racism and present-day patterns linked to the pandemic and to cultural anxieties about Asian ascendancy and Western decline.

The panel will feature presentations by Professors Russell Jeung (San Francisco State University), Catherine Choy (UC Berkeley), and Kimberly Hoang (University of Chicago). Michael Lu, Dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, will offer an introduction, and Raka Ray, Dean of the Division...

Fiat Vox: First Artist-in-Residence in the Department of Art Practice, Fred DeWitt

April 22, 2021

In a recent Fiat Vox podcast, Anne Brice interviewed Berkeley MFA student Fred DeWitt. DeWitt, 61, shares in his own words what the Black Panthers meant to him as a young boy growing up in the Bay Area, how Barack Obama’s election as president inspired him to go back to school to study art, and the complicated nature of honoring the lives of people who never wanted to be remembered for their deaths. His MFA show will be at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) in June.

KQED Forum in conversation with Professor Nikki Jones: Nation Reacts to Guilty Verdict in George Floyd Killing

April 21, 2021

NPR's Forum spoke to Nikki Jones, professor of African American Studies, UC Berkeley, author of "The Chosen Ones: Black Men and the Politics of Redemption," about the results of the Derek Chauvin trial and the meaning of justice in America.