Matrix On Point
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Event Date: October 28th, 2026
3:30pm-5:00pm
Matrix on Point: The State of U.S. Immigration Enforcement and Surveillance
Federal immigration enforcement in the United States is increasingly shaped by the convergence of surveillance technologies, data systems, and on-the-ground policing practices. This panel will bring together a group of scholars from diverse disciplines to examine the social and political consequences — and the stakes for rights in an era of technological governance.
Learn More >California Spotlight
Recap
Published November 20, 2021
The Labor of Fire: Wildlands Firefighting and Incarceration in California
Recorded on November 10, 2021, this panel discussion considered how changing wildfires have changed not only how fires are fought, but who fights them. The panel included Brandon Smith, Co-founder and Chief Director of the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program (FFRP); Jameson Karns, PhD Candidate in History at UC Berkeley; and Lindsey Raisa Feldman, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Memphis. Moderated by John Radke, College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published November 5, 2021
Matrix On Point: Religion in the Age of Information
Religion, as we know it, is being reframed, reshaped, and even replaced. Recorded on November 2, 2021, this online panel discussion focused on how digital technologies are transforming both religious doctrines and practices in contemporary society. Co-organized by the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion and co-sponsored by the Berkeley Center for New Media.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
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.
Learn More >Podcast
Interview
Published November 4, 2021
Genetic Ancestry Testing and Reconnection: An Interview with Dr. Victoria Massie
In this episode of the Matrix podcast, Julia Sizek, a PhD candidate in Anthropology at UC Berkeley, interviews Dr. Victoria Massie, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, and Faculty Affiliate for the Center for African & African American Studies (CAAAS), the Medical Humanities Program and the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality (CSWGS) at Rice University, in Houston. Sizek interviews Massie about her research tracking diasporic connections between the United States and Cameroon, and the wider world of genetic ancestry testing.
Learn More >Grad Student Profile
Interview
Published November 3, 2021
Land, Camps, and the Remains: Heba Alnajada on the History of Syrian Refugee Camps
Heba Alnajada is a Ph.D. Candidate in Architecture History at the University of California, Berkeley, and a 2021-2022 ACLS/Mellon Fellow. Her dissertation project situates the Syrian refugee crisis within an architectural and socio-legal history that spans from the late Ottoman period to present-day Jordan. Social Science Matrix content curator Julia Sizek interviewed Alnajada about her research, using images from her dissertation.
Learn More >Affiliated Centers
Call for Papers
Published November 2, 2021
Call For Papers: Managing Distributed Safety and Security in a Hyper-Connected World
UC Berkeley scholars are co-editing a special issue of Safety Science, an international medium for research in the science and technology of human and industrial safety. Papers are sought that address the challenges of safety and security as “messy” problems whose components are hard to define. Deadline for submissions: June 30, 2022
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