California Spotlight
Recap
Published February 19, 2025
The Future of California Agriculture
As one of the nation’s agricultural powerhouses, California’s farming industry stands at a critical juncture. Climate change, labor availability and migration, and rapidly evolving technologies are reshaping the landscape of agriculture in the Golden State. This panel, recorded on January 30, 2025 and presented as part of the UC Berkeley Social Science Matrix California Spotlight series, brought together experts to analyze these changes and explore their implications for agricultural communities and rural economies.
Learn More >Authors Meet Critics
Recap
Published December 16, 2024
Sin Padres, Ni Papeles: Unaccompanied Migrant Youth Coming of Age in the United States
This Authors Meet Critics panel focused on "Sin Padres, Ni Papeles: Unaccompanied Migrant Youth Coming of Age in the United States," by Stephanie L. Canizales, Assistant Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley and Faculty Director of the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative. With Kristina Lovato, Caitlin Patler, and Sarah Song.
Learn More >Podcast
Interview
Published May 1, 2024
Sugar and the Transformation of the American West: An Interview with Bernadette Pérez
For this episode of the Matrix Podcast, J.T. Jamieson, a 2022-2023 Matrix Communications Scholar, interviewed Bernadette Pérez, Assistant Professor of History at UC Berkeley. Pérez is a historian of the United States and specializes in the histories of Latinx and Indigenous peoples in the West. Her current research focuses on migrant sugar beet workers in Colorado, and explores intersections between race, environment, labor, migration, and colonialism in the post Civil War.
Learn More >Podcast
Interview
Published October 16, 2023
War, Diaspora, Bureaucracy: An Interview with Sherine Ebadi
How does international conflict shape immigration bureaucracy? Listen to our podcast featuring Sherine Ebadi, a PhD Candidate in the UC Berkeley Department of Geography, who researches the impact of Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) and employment-based visa programs on Afghan nationals who worked with the U.S. military.
Learn More >Article
Interview
Published August 21, 2023
Language Revitalization in Oakland: A Visual Interview with Tessa Scott
Mam, a Mayan language spoken both in the highlands of Guatemala as well as in diaspora communities in Mexico and the US, is rapidly becoming one of the most widely spoken Indigenous languages in the San Francisco East Bay region. Mam-speaking migrants are part of a broader trend of Central American migrants in the United […]
Learn More >Podcast
Interview
Published July 27, 2023
The Binational Politics of Return Migrant Activism: Interview with Caroline Tracey
Listen to (or read) an interview with Caroline Tracey, a PhD from the UC Berkeley Department of Geography, whose research uses ethnographic, archival, and literary methods to study the American Southwest, Mexico, and the US-Mexico border. Tracey argues that women and trans deportees and returnees play an important role in community-building and activism in Mexico that has improved emplacement for all return migrants.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published April 30, 2023
Matrix on Point: Border Crossing
For this Matrix on Point panel, we asked UC Berkeley PhD candidates — Pauline White Meeusen, Gisselle Perez-Leon, and Adriana P. Ramirez — to share their ongoing research on borders and migration. Moderated by Irene Bloemraad, Director of the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative (BIMI), which co-sponsored the event.
Learn More >Affiliated Centers
Recap
Published April 28, 2023
Reshaping City Politics? Asian Voters’ Demands for Change in San Francisco and Vancouver
In 2022, Asian voters shocked the political establishment in San Francisco and Vancouver. Presented by UC Berkeley's Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research, this panel featured insiders from both cities, including Ken Sim’s campaign manager, a leader from Vancouver’s Canadian-Chinese community, a leader in the San Francisco school board recall campaign who was appointed to the school board herself, and scholar Neil Malhotra.
Learn More >Podcast
Interview
Published October 25, 2022
Migration and Reform in Early America: An Interview with J.T. Jamieson
What role did American social and moral reformers play in managing human migrations? Listen to (or read) our Matrix Podcast interview with J.T. Jamieson, a PhD Candidate in UC Berkeley’s History Department, who examines how social reformers in the first half of the 19th century sought to control migration and insert their own understandings of morality, social benevolence, and humanitarianism into the lives and experiences of migrants.
Learn More >Article
Interview
Published August 30, 2022
How Climate Change Became a Security Emergency: An Interview with Brittany Meché
How has climate change become an international security problem? In this interview, Brittany Meché, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Affiliated Faculty in Science and Technology Studies at Williams College, discusses her research on how expert explanations of climate migration rework the afterlives of empire in the West African Sahel.
Learn More >Affiliated Centers
Recap
Published April 22, 2022
(Why) Are Democrats Losing the Latino Vote?
Recorded on April 19, 2022, this panel discussion was presented by the Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research. The panel featured Amanda Iovino, Vice President, Polling Director, WPA Intelligence, Youngkin for Governor; Anaís López, Senior Analyst, BSP Research; David Shor, Head of Data Science, Blue Rose Research; and Mike Madrid, Principal, GrassrootsLab.
Learn More >Podcast
Interview
Published January 20, 2022
Individual Trauma, Social Outcomes: A Matrix Podcast Interview with Biz Herman
In this episode of the Matrix Podcast, Julia Sizek interviews Biz Herman, a PhD candidate in the UC Berkeley Department of Political Science, a Visiting Scholar at The New School for Social Research’s Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab, and a Predoctoral Research Fellow with the Human Trafficking Vulnerability Lab. The podcast focuses on Herman's research on mental health and social stability at the Za’atri Refugee Camp in Jordan, as well as her broader research on the impacts of individual trauma on community coherence.
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