Upcoming Events

Atmospheres of Violence: Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, 5-6:30 PM PT   At a time when LGBTQ rights are advancing, why are attacks against trans, queer and/or gender-nonconforming people of color increasing? Join us Tuesday, Nov. 2 at 5pm PT / 8 pm ET to hear from a panel of artists, organizers, and academics who will discuss this question and others posed by Eric A. Stanley’s new book Atmospheres of Violence.    Speakers: Angela Y. Davis, Professor Emerita, UC Santa Cruz Courtney Desiree Morris (moderator), Artist and Assistant Professor, UC Berkeley Dean Spade, Professor, Seattle…

The Black Film Ambassador: The Ecstatic World of Albert Johnson   October 30–November 26, 2021 Taking its title from Josslyn Luckett’s Fall 2021 Film Quarterly article, this spotlight series is dedicated to film critic, scholar, curator, and educator Albert Johnson (1925–1998) and is part of our ongoing celebration of five decades of year-round film programming at BAMPFA. A pillar of the Bay Area film scene, Johnson helped to create a thriving local film culture. He was a cofounder of Film Quarterly, a senior lecturer in the Department of African American Studies at UC Berkeley, and program director of the San Francisco International Film Festival from…

Music, the Diaspora, and the World A Conversation with Angélique Kidjo Thursday, Oct 28, 2021 12:00 pm 820 Social Sciences Building and online This event is both in-person at the Social Science Matrix (820 Social Sciences Building) and online. Please register to attend, whether in-person or remotely. One could say that, by definition, music is the most diasporic of art forms. It is movement itself. It is hybridity. It passes from place to place and from time to time, heedless of natural or social borders. Music belongs everywhere, and yet it is always from somewhere. Diasporic themes and histories have been central not only…

Thursday, October 28, 12:30 – 2:00 PM, Pacific Time Online event Register Today  The introduction of the Justice for Black Farmers Act in 2020 and the Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act of 2021 was the first time many Americans learned about the historical and ongoing discrimination against farmers of African descent by local farm service agencies and private entities like banks. Yet, it was only the latest chapter in the long saga of anti-Black racism in American farming. Join a panel of legacy farmers, critical race scholars, and a civil rights lawyer to learn about the grave injustices…

The Department of African American Studies at UC Berkeley’s 2021-22 Critical Conversations speaker series is organized as a celebration of the life and legacy of June Jordan, a gifted and prolific writer, a powerful activist, an innovative teacher and a longtime member of our Department. Fall 2021 will be devoted to June’s activist work, her prose and her architectural imaginary. Spring 2022 will be devoted to her work as a poet and teacher. Building on our successful Spring 2021 series celebrating Dr. Barbara Christian and exploring the concept of abolition democracy, this series continues to ask: what are the lessons…

The Underground Scholars at UC Berkeley and Stanford University would like to invite you to Bridging the Gap, Incarceration to College a conversation with Dr. Nikki Jones and Samuel Maul.  The event will be held online on August 6th from 6-8 pm PDT.  Please take a moment to RSVP using this form. This is a fundraising event for the students of Incarceration to College and all proceeds go directly to the students.  Please share this flyer with your network and we hope to see you there.   If you would like to learn more about the Incarceration to College program…

Thursday, June 22, 2021 9:00 – 12:00 am PDT / 11:00 am – 2:00 pm CDT / 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm EDT  EVENT DESCRIPTION Join us Tuesday, June 22, 9am-12pm PDT, for a half-day forum with fair housing advocates and leading race and housing scholars from across the United States for the unveiling of “The Roots of Structural Racism,” a groundbreaking new project from the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley which details just how widespread and harmful racial residential segregation remains today, why it matters, who it impacts, and what can be done to reverse this dangerous…

Register  On Friday, May 14 from 12pm-1:30pm PDT (3pm-4:30pm EDT), UC Berkeley’s Social Science Matrix will feature a “Matrix on Point” panel discussion entitled, “America’s Pursuit of Racial Justice,” focused on the recent Black-led protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, situated within the broader historical context of social movements for racial justice in the United States. The panel will include Monica Bell, Associate Professor of Law & Sociology, Yale Law School; Leigh Raiford, Associate Professor of African American Studies, UC Berkeley; and Brandon M. Terry, Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies and Social Studies, Harvard University. Christopher Muller, Assistant…

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Register here   Join a conversation with three authors on the history and politics of Black popular music. About this Event Black music has been a powerful force, expressing joy, pain, and speaking truths to a global audience. In this program, we will look more deeply into the history and politics of Black music through examining the career of singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson, discussing the music of the Black Power movement, and by exploring the trajectory of the iconic 1990’s hip hop group, A Tribe Called Quest. The discussion features authors Hanif Abdurraqib (Go Ahead in the Rain:…