Authors Meet Critics
Recap
Published November 3, 2022
Keeping It Unreal: Black Queer Fantasy and Superhero Comics
Recorded on October 14, 2022, this Authors Meet Critics panel focused on the book "Keeping It Unreal: Black Queer Fantasy and Superhero Comics," by Darieck Scott, Professor of African American Studies at UC Berkeley. Scott was joined in conversation by Ula Taylor and Scott Bukatman, with Greg Niemeyer moderating.
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Podcast
Published August 3, 2022
Race, Gender, and Political Speech: An Interview with Gabriella Licata
When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was insulted on the Capitol steps in July 2020, it was a brief media sensation. But what does being called an “effing bitch” mean for how we think about political speech? This episode of the Matrix Podcast features an interview with Gabriella Licata, a PhD candidate in Romance Languages and Literatures at UC Berkeley, focused on how the standard language ideologies of political speech come to shape perceptions of language and people in Congress.
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Interview
Published March 21, 2022
A Visual Interview with Eric Stanley on “Atmospheres of Violence”
How should we understand violence against trans/queer people in relation to the promise of modern democracies? In their new book, "Atmospheres of Violence: Structuring Antagonisms and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable," Eric A. Stanley, Associate Professor in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, argues that anti-trans/queer violence is foundational to, and not an aberration of, western modernity. For this visual interview, Julia Sizek, Matrix Content Curator and a PhD candidate in the UC Berkeley Department of Anthropology, asked Professor Stanley about their research, drawing upon images and videos referenced in the book.
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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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Article
Published January 5, 2022
Matrix on Point: Democracy, Misogyny and Digital Media
On December 13, 2021, Matrix convened a diverse group of speakers to discuss today’s remarkable political moment, marked both by a new kind of women’s activism (centered on #MeToo and related movements) and by the rise of a misogynistic far-right. Panelists included Sarah Sobieraj, an award-winning teacher and researcher with expertise in US political culture, extreme incivility, digital abuse and harassment, and the mediated information environment; C.J. Pascoe, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Oregon and co-editor of Socius Journal; Julia Ebner, a radicalisation researcher and bestselling writer based in London; and Kishonna L. Gray, Associate Professor in the Writing, Rhetoric, Digital Studies program at the University of Kentucky. The panel was moderated by Raka Ray, Dean of the Division of Social Sciences at UC Berkeley.
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Recap
Published November 4, 2021
Matrix on Point: The Rights and Lives of Non-Citizens
Recorded on October 29, 2021, this panel discussion considered forms of non-citizenship and marginalization around the world, with a special focus on refugees, stateless people, and undocumented migrants. Panelists included Noora Lori, from the Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University; Itamar Mann, University of Haifa, Faculty of Law; and Cecilia Menjívar, UCLA; Serena Parekh, Northeastern University. Moderated by UC Berkeley's Irene Bloemraad.
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Recap
Published May 21, 2021
Matrix on Point: America’s Pursuit of Racial Justice
A "Matrix on Point" panel on the long (and continuing) struggle for racial justice in America led to a thought-provoking conversation among Professors Monica Bell, from Yale Law School; Leigh Raiford, from UC Berkeley; and Brandon M. Terry, from Harvard University. Moderated by UC Berkeley's Christopher Muller.
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Recap
Published March 15, 2021
Scammer’s Yard: The Crime of Black Repair in Jamaica
Recorded on March 10, 2021, this video features a panel discussion about Scammer's Yard: The Crime of Black Repair in Jamaica, a book by Jovan Scott Lewis, Assistant Professor of Geography at UC Berkeley.
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Recap
Published March 15, 2021
Pandemic Lessons: Assessing Educational Inequalities in the Wake of COVID-19
Presented by the University of California, Berkeley's Social Science Matrix on March 9, 2021, this video features an online panel discussion addressing what we have learned about educational inequalities after a year of pandemic-related school closures.
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Recap
Published September 28, 2020
Homelessness and the Bay Area Housing Crisis
On September 21, 2020, a panel of researchers, advocates, and medical practitioners joined a "Matrix on Point" discussion focused on homelessness and the San Francisco Bay Area’s housing crisis.
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Article
Published August 26, 2020
Christopher Carter on Indigenous Autonomy
An interview with Christopher Carter, a PhD candidate in Political Science at UC Berkeley and a Research Associate at the Center on the Politics of Development, who has been announced winner of the 2020 Best Fieldwork Prize from the Democracy and Autocracy Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA).
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Published April 22, 2020
COVID-19 is Blind to Legal Status, but Can Disproportionately Hurt Immigrants
COVID-19 is blind to legal status, but can still disproportionately hurt immigrants, argue Jasmijn Slootjes and Irene Bloemraad from the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative.
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