Podcast
Interview
Published April 1, 2025
Social, Spatial, Ecological, and Racial Fixes in New Deal South Carolina: Interview with Morgan Vickers
This episode of the Matrix Podcast features an interview with Morgan P. Vickers, an Assistant Professor of Race/Racialization in the Department of Law, Societies & Justice at the University of Washington. Vickers received their Ph.D. in Geography from UC Berkeley.
Learn More >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 >New Directions
Recap
Published December 16, 2024
New Directions in the Study of Labor
In this panel, an interdisciplinary group of UC Berkeley graduate students explored the evolving dynamics of work, management, and labor organization. The panel featured presentations by William Darwell (Jurisprudence and Social Policy), Kristy Kim (Economics), and Vera Parra (Sociology). Moderated by John Logan, Visiting Scholar at the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
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 >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published November 26, 2024
Shifting Alignments in the 2024 Election
Recorded on October 25, 2024, this panel examined the shifting demographic and political forces that are redefining the traditional bases of the Democratic and Republican parties and their efforts to build new electoral coalitions. The panel featured Ian Haney López, David Hollinger, and Omar Wasow, and was moderated by G. Cristina Mora.
Learn More >Podcast
Interview
Published November 19, 2024
The Imperiled Place of Universities and Democracy in the USA: An Interview with Todd Wolfson
This Matrix Podcast episode features a conversation between James Vernon, Director of the Global Democracy Commons initiative, and Todd Wolfson, the new President of AAUP, about how public disinvestment from higher education and the culture wars have transformed colleges in ways that make them less democratic places — and imperil democracy across the country.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published November 11, 2024
Matrix on Point: Voices from the Heartland
Recorded on October 21, 2024, this Matrix on Point panel featured three scholars — Arlie Hochschild, Jenny Reardon, and Lisa Pruitt — discussing the frequently overlooked yet politically potent voices emanating from America’s rural heartlands and small towns. Moderated by Cihan Tuğal.
Learn More >Authors Meet Critics
Recap
Published November 11, 2024
Authors Meet Critics: “Partisan Nation: The Dangerous New Logic of American Politics in a Nationalized Era”
Watch the video (or listen to the podcast) of our Authors Meet Critics panel "Partisan Nation: The Dangerous New Logic of American Politics in a Nationalized Era," by Paul Pierson and Eric Schickler, who were joined in conversation by Francis Fukuyama and Didi Kuo. Moderated by Mark Danner.
Learn More >Interview
Published September 11, 2024
Agricultural Modernization in China: Interview with Ross Doll and Coleman Mahler
This episode of the Matrix Podcast features Matrix Postdoctoral Fellow Julia Sizek interviewing Ross Doll and Coleman Mahler, two scholars from different disciplines whose work focuses on the modernization of China. Ross Doll is Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellow in the UC Berkeley Department of Geography. He researches agrarian change in Asia drawing on political ecology, cultural […]
Learn More >Alumni
Interview
Published June 25, 2024
Anti-Mining Politics in Colombia: A Visual Interview with Ángela Castillo
What can the battle around a new mine in Colombia tell us about the past and future of environmentalist organizing in Latin America? Matrix Postdoc Julia Sizek interviewed Ángela Castillo, who is a recent PhD graduate from UC Berkeley’s Anthropology Department and is now Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Pitzer College.
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 >New Directions
Recap
Published April 14, 2024
New Directions in Greening Infrastructure
Recorded on March 20, 2024, this panel features three early-career scholars from UC Berkeley presenting their research on the greening infrastructure and the green energy transition. The panel included Johnathan Guy, PhD Candidate in Political Science; Caylee Hong, a PhD candidate in Anthropology, and Andrew Jaeger, PhD Candidate in Sociology. The panel was moderated by Daniel Aldana Cohen, Assistant Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley. Co-Sponsored by the Socio-Spatial Climate Collaborative, the Berkeley Climate Change Network, and the Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative.
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