Authors Meet Critics
Recap
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Dylan Penningroth, “Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights”
Watch a video (or listen to the podcast) of our "Authors Meet Critics" panel on "Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights," by Dylan Penningroth, Professor of Law and Alexander F. and May T. Morrison Professor of History at UC Berkeley, and Associate Dean, Program in Jurisprudence and Social Policy / Legal Studies at Berkeley Law. This book overturns the conventional wisdom about the Civil Rights Movement by demonstrating that Black people had long exercised “the rights of everyday use,” and that this lesser-known private-law tradition paved the way for the modern vision of civil rights.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Matrix on Point: New Directions in Gender and Sexuality
While the last 20 years have marked a significant change in increased acceptance of varied gender expressions and sexual orientations, these changes haven’t made the importance of gender and sexuality as concepts disappear. If anything, they’ve become more relevant for understanding the world today. Recorded on November 30, 2023, this panel brought together a group of UC Berkeley graduate students from the fields of sociology, ethnic studies, and political science for a discussion of gender and sexuality through the lens of such topics as medicine, transnational migration, and marriage.
Learn More >California Spotlight
Recap
California Spotlight: From Boom to Doom in San Francisco
Watch the video (or listen to the podcast) of our California Spotlight panel focused on the current state of commercial real estate in San Francisco — and what lies ahead. Panelists included Nicholas Bloom, from Stanford University; Ted Egan, Chief Economist of the City and County of San Francisco; and Nancy Wallace, from Berkeley Haas. Amir Kermani, from Haas School of Business and the National Bureau of Economic Research, moderated.
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Recap
Massimo Mazzotti, “Reactionary Mathematics: A Genealogy of Purity”
Watch the video (or listen to a podcast) of our "Authors Meet Critics" panel on the book "Reactionary Mathematics: A Genealogy of Purity," by Massimo Mazzotti, Professor in the UC Berkeley Department of History and the Thomas M. Siebel Presidential Chair in the History of Science, with by Matthew L. Jones, the Smith Family Professor of History at Princeton University, and David Bates, Professor of Rhetoric at UC Berkeley. Thomas Laqueur, the Helen Fawcett Distinguished Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley, moderated.
Learn More >Article
Interview
Mapping the Los Angeles Ethnoburbs: An Interview with Margaret Crawford
In this interview, Aidan Lee, a PhD student in the UC Berkeley Department of History and a 2022-2023 Matrix Communications Scholar, interviewed Margaret Crawford (shown above), Director of Urban Design, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design in the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design, about her research on California's “ethnoburbs,” and why they are now permanent features of America’s built landscape.
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Interview
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.
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Podcast
Voter Turnout in the United States: An Interview with Emily Rong Zhang
In this episode of the Matrix Podcast, Jennie Barker, a PhD Candidate in the Charles and Louise Travers Department of Political Science at UC Berkeley — and a Matrix Communications Scholar — spoke with Emily Rong Zhang, Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley Law School, about her research on voter turnout in the United States.
Learn More >Article
Interview
Private Firms and WTO Dispute Escalation: An Interview with Ryan Brutger
On this episode of the Matrix Podcast, Daniel Lobo, a PhD student in the UC Berkeley Department of Sociology and a 2022-2023 Matrix Communications Scholar, interviewed Ryan Brutger, Associate Professor of Political Science at UC Berkeley, about his new article, "Litigation for Sale: Private Firms and WTO Dispute Escalation."
Learn More >Article
Interview
How Student-Athlete Activism Shaped the University: An Interview with Cameron Black
Read an interview with Cameron Black, Assistant Professor of History at the City College of New York School of Labor and Urban Studies. Black, who completed his PhD in history at UC Berkeley in May 2023, studies the history of student-athlete protest movements in the 1960s through the lens of labor and management and the history of capital.
Learn More >Article
Interview
Untimely Sacrifices: An Interview with Daena Funahashi
In this interview, Nataliya Nedzhvetskaya, a Matrix Communications Scholar, spoke with Daena Funahashi, Assistant Professor in the UC Berkeley Department of Anthropology, about her new book, “Untimely Sacrifices: Work and Death in Finland,” based on her ethnographic work in Finnish rehabilitation programs for occupational burnout.
Learn More >Alumni
Interview
Gender and Political Gatekeepers: A Visual Interview with Melanie Phillips
How do we understand the barriers that women face in becoming political candidates? Read our interview with Melanie L. Phillips, who completed her PhD in the Charles and Louise Travers Political Science Department at Berkeley in 2023 and is currently a Lecturer in the Political Science Department and a Research and Evaluation Associate at School-to-School International.
Learn More >Matrix News
Research Teams
Matrix Announces 2023-2024 Research Teams
Social Science Matrix is welcoming five new Matrix Research Teams for the 2023-2024 academic year. Matrix Research Teams are groups of scholars who gather regularly to explore or develop a novel question or emerging field in the social sciences. This year’s funded teams — one faculty-led team and four graduate student-led teams — will address a diverse range of social science questions.
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