Matrix Lecture
Recap
Published December 16, 2025
Alexis Madrigal: “To Know A Place”
Recorded on December 4, 2025, this video features a Social Science Matrix Distinguished Lecture, “To Know a Place,” presented by journalist and author Alexis Madrigal. In this talk, Madrigal turns his attention to the question of how we come to know a place. Drawing on his background as a reporter, writer, and thinker of cities, landscapes, and histories, he explores different ways of writing about and understanding place, revealing how perspective, memory, and narrative inform the stories we tell about the world around us.
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Recap
Published December 16, 2025
Maximilian Kasy: “The Means of Prediction: How AI Really Works (and Who Benefits)”
Recorded on December 2, 2025, this video features a talk by Maximilian Kasy, Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford, presenting his book The Means of Prediction: How AI Really Works (and Who Benefits). In the book, Kasy clearly and accessibly explains the fundamental principles on which AI works, and, in doing so, reveals that the real conflict isn’t between humans and machines, but between those who control the machines and the rest of us.
Learn More >Matrix Teach-In
Recap
Published December 16, 2025
Seth Lunine: “Promise & Precarity: Exploring Oakland Through Community Engaged Scholarship”
Recorded on November 17, 2025, this video features a lecture by Seth Lunine, Lecturer in the UC Berkeley Department of Geography, who presented a talk reflecting on his experiences with collaborative scholarship between UC Berkeley undergraduates and community-based organizations in Oakland’s Fruitvale District.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published December 15, 2025
Matrix on Point: Financializing Disaster
The technical world of insurance is a critical lens through which to understand the escalating crises in climate change and housing. Watch the video (or listen to the podcast) of a Matrix on Point panel that brought together experts to explore the intersection of insurance, housing, and climate. The panel featured Stephen Collier, Desiree Fields, and Dave Jones, with Meg Mills-Novoa moderating.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published November 17, 2025
Matrix on Point: Spaces for Thriving
Physical spaces profoundly influence community well-being. Recorded on November 3, 2025, this panel brought together experts to explore how thoughtful planning and strategic policy can shift power toward communities, creating conditions where all can thrive. The discussion bridged diverse perspectives on environmental conservation, design psychology, and disability studies to illuminate steps toward more just and inclusive environments.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published November 17, 2025
Matrix on Point: Conspiracy Theories
Drawing on diverse academic perspectives, the discussion explored the nature of conspiracy theories, their societal implications, and how they are understood and addressed. The panel featured Michael M. Cohen, Associate Professor of American Studies and African American Studies at UC Berkeley, and Tim Tangherlini, Professor in the Department of Scandinavian and the School of Information at UC Berkeley. Lakshmi Sarah, journalist and lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, moderated.
Learn More >Authors Meet Critics
Recap
Published October 23, 2025
Engendering Blackness: Slavery and the Ontology of Sexual Violence
Watch (or listen to) the recording of our recent Authors Meet Critics panel on "Engendering Blackness: Slavery and the Ontology of Sexual Violence," by Patrice Douglass, Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at UC Berkeley, a book that interrogates the relationship between sexual violence and modern racial slavery. Professor Douglass was joined in conversation by Salar Mameni and Henry Washington, Jr., with Courtney Desiree Morris moderating.
Learn More >CRELS
Recap
Published October 21, 2025
Legitimation by (Mis)identification: Credit, Discrimination, and The Racial Epistemology of Algorithmic Expansion
Recorded on September 22, 2025, this video features a talk by Davon Norris, Assistant Professor of Organizational Studies and Sociology (by courtesy) and Faculty Associate at the Stone Center for Inequality Dynamics at the University of Michigan. Professor Norris’s research is broadly oriented to understanding how our ways of determining what is valuable informs patterns of inequality with an acute focus on racism and racial inequality.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published June 12, 2025
Technology and China in the New Political Economy
Recorded on April 18, 2025, this Matrix on Point panel brought together experts of the Chinese political economy and law and society in a conversation to discuss the political, economic, security, and social dimensions and complexities of technology in China’s internationalization during times of global tensions. The panel featured Mark Dallas, Roselyn Hsueh, and Rachel E. Stern; it was moderated and chaired by AnnaLee Saxenian.
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Recap
Published June 12, 2025
Governing Giants: Law, Politics, and Antitrust
Recorded on April 25, 2025, this panel brought together scholars of political science, economics, and law to discuss the changing landscape of antitrust policy in an era of multinational corporations. Moderated by Ryan Brutger, the panel included Amy Pond (Washington University St. Louis, Political Science), Prasad Krishnamurthy (UC Berkeley, Law), and Michael Allen (Stanford, Political Science).
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published May 20, 2025
150 Years of Border Control: The Legacy of the 1875 Page Act
Recorded on April 23, 2025, this panel marked the 150th anniversary of the Page Act of 1875, one of the first federal laws to restrict immigration to the United States — especially Asian immigration, as the law prohibited the importation of Asian contract workers, prostitutes (a provision targeted against Chinese women), and criminals.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published May 14, 2025
Matrix on Point: The New Gender Gap
New research reveals a growing gender gap in attitudes across a range of topics, particularly striking among younger generations. Recorded on April 7, 2025, this panel brought together experts to discuss the contours and complexities of this “new gender gap” and explore its ramifications for politics, demography, and societal cohesion.
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