Podcast
Interview
Published August 10, 2022
Institutionalizing Child Welfare: An Interview with Matty Lichtenstein
This episode of the Matrix Podcast features an interview with Matty Lichtenstein, a recent PhD from Berkeley’s Sociology Department, who studies how state and professional organizations shape social and health inequalities in maternal and child welfare. The interview focuses on Lichtenstein's research on the transformation of American child welfare and the impact of that transformation on contemporary maternal and infant health practices.
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Interview
Published June 17, 2022
How CRISPR Became Routine
Read a Matrix visual interview with Santiago Molina, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University, who researches how CRISPR, the genetic engineering technology, has become an everyday part of scientific practice.
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.
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Recap
Published April 22, 2022
Catherine Hall: “Racial Capitalism: What’s In A Name?”
Racial capitalism has become a widely used term – but how should we define it and what specific forms does it take? Recorded on April 20, 2022, this talk by esteemed historian Catherine Hall focused on 18th-century Jamaica and the ways in which two separate sets of practices – racisms and capitalism – intersected to form a system embedded in both the metropolitan and the colonial states.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published April 15, 2022
The Future of Money: Mobile Money, Social Media, and Cashless Economies
Focusing on forms of cashless payment, such as mobile money and apps, this "Matrix on Point" panel explored questions about how the social connections made through money are changing, and what the implications might be for our understanding of money, trust, and social connection. The panel featured Kevin Donovan, Lecturer in the Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh; Lana Swartz, Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia; and Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The panel was moderated by Marion Fourcade, Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley and Director of Social Science Matrix.
Learn More >Podcast
Interview
Published April 12, 2022
What Happened to the Week? An Interview with David Henkin
For this episode of the Matrix podcast, Julia Sizek interviewed David M. Henkin, the Margaret Byrne Professor of History, about his book, The Week: A History of the Unnatural Rhythms that Make Us Who We Are. With meticulous archival research that draws on a wide array of sources — including newspapers, restaurant menus, theater schedules, marriage records, school curricula, folklore, housekeeping guides, courtroom testimony, and diaries — Henkin reveals how our current devotion to weekly rhythms emerged in the United States during the first half of the 19th century.
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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.
Learn More >Authors Meet Critics
Recap
Published March 8, 2022
Precolonial Legacies in Postcolonial Politics
Watch the video of our “Author Meets Critics” panel focused on the book, "Precolonial Legacies in Postcolonial Politics: Representation and Redistribution in Decentralized West Africa," by Martha Wilfahrt, Assistant Professor in the UC Berkeley Department of Political Science. Recorded on March 7th, 2022, the panel included Scott Straus and Alberto Díaz-Cayeros, and was moderated by Leonardo Arriola.
Learn More >Matrix Lecture
Recap
Published February 28, 2022
The Problem of Trust in the Digital Public Sphere
On February 24, 2022, Matrix was honored to host William Davies, Professor of Political Economy at Goldsmiths, University of London, for a Matrix Distinguished Lecture. Davies explored how the digitization of our public sphere has made trust harder to establish, as the ideal of “facts” has been challenged by that of “real-time data,” and consequently altered the forms of allegiance, organization, and political coalitions that are possible.
Learn More >Black History Month
Article
Published February 16, 2022
Honoring Black History Month at Social Science Matrix
In honor of Black History Month, we've rounded up a selection of 11 Social Science Matrix articles, podcasts, and videos of panel discussions with themes related to understanding Black lives in America.
Learn More >Authors Meet Critics
Recap
Published February 3, 2022
The King and the People: Sovereignty and Popular Politics in Mughal Delhi
On January 26, 2022, Social Science Matrix hosted an “Authors Meet Critics” panel discussion focused on the book, "The King and the People: Sovereignty and Popular Politics in Mughal Delhi" (Oxford University Press), by Abhishek Kaicker, Associate Professor in the UC Berkeley Department of History. Professor Kaicker was joined in conversation by Professors Asad Ahmed and Aarti Sethi. The panel was moderated by Professor Pradeep Chhibber.
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Interview
Published January 19, 2022
Online Extremism and Political Advertising: A Visual Interview With Laura Jakli
Using data from online advertising, Laura Jakli, a 2020 PhD graduate from UC Berkeley’s Department of Political Science, studies political extremism, destigmatization, and radicalization, focusing on the role of popularity cues in online media. Read a Q&A interview with Jakli, based on political ads and graphics.
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