Matrix On Point
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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New Directions: Borderlands
Borders reflect the many social, historical, and political forces that shape global movement and identity. While borders often suggest fixed lines of division, the experiences within and around them increasingly influence national and global understandings of belonging, sovereignty, and human rights. Recorded on October 1, 2025, this panel together a group of UC Berkeley graduate students from the fields of history, sociology, and ethnic studies for a discussion on borders and their impact, particularly through the lens of migration, mobility, and resistance across the U.S.-Mexico border. The panel featured Carlotta Wright de la Cal, PhD Candidate in History; Adriana Ramirez, PhD Candidate in Sociology; and Irene Franco Rubio, PhD Candidate in Ethnic Studies. Hidetaka Hirota, Professor of History, moderated. The Social Science Matrix New Directions event series features research presentations by graduate students from different social science disciplines. Learn more at https://matrix.berkeley.edu. This panel was co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley Department of Sociology, Department of Ethnic Studies, and Department of History.
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Research Teams
Matrix Welcomes New Research Teams for 2025-2026
Social Science Matrix is proud to welcome eight new Matrix Research Teams — three faculty-led teams and five graduate student-led teams — for the 2025-2026 academic year. Matrix Research Teams are groups of scholars who gather regularly to explore or develop a novel question or emerging field in the social sciences. The teams convene participants […]
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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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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).
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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.
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Iris Hui Memorial Fund
Ethnic Studies PhD Student Receives Iris Hui Memorial Scholarship
Irene Franco Rubio, a doctoral student in the UC Berkeley Department of Ethnic Studies, has been selected to receive the 2025 Dr. Iris Hui Memorial Graduate Student Scholarship. Irene is a first-generation scholar-activist whose research explores multiracial coalition-building, grassroots resistance, and social movement histories in the U.S. Southwest.
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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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Native Lands: Culture and Gender in Indigenous Territorial Claims
Recorded on April 4, 2025, this video features an Authors Meet Critics panel on the book "Native Lands: Culture and Gender in Indigenous Territorial Claims," by Shari Huhndorf, Professor of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. "Native Lands" analyzes the role of visual and literary culture in contemporary Indigenous campaigns for territorial rights.
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