Othering & Belonging Conference: A National Conference to Promote an Inclusive Society

To make the community-lead changes to improve a community can require altering the structures, processes and narratives to create an environment that represents the diverse voices of community members. This involves navigating the social, political and economic shifts that occur in the neighborhood as well as larger society that often result in the marginalization, or "othering", of different social groups.

The Othering & Belonging Conference, organized by the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at UC Berkeley, seeks to bring together scholars, researchers, advocates, and organizers to examine the issue of Othering, a set of processes that engender marginality across any of the full range of human differences, such as race, socioeconomic status, gender, religion, statehood, ethnicity, ability/disability, sexual orientation, and more.The conference will feature a multi-disciplinary, intersectional examination of the forms of othering in order to craft transformative solutions that promote belonging. The goal of the conference is to discern possibilities and develop practices for generating more inclusive structures, narratives, and identities that prohibit Othering and promote belonging.

"Belonging or being fully human means more than having access. It means having a meaningful voice, and being afforded the opportunity to participate in the design of social and cultural structures. Belonging entails being respected at a basic level that includes the right to both contribute and make demands upon society and political institutions."

Conference speakers include

• Luis Garden Acosta
• Guillermo Gómez-Peña 
• bell hooks
• Naomi Klein
• Joanna Macy
• Lynn Manning
• Manuel Pastor
• Ai-jen Poo
• john a. powell
• Andrew Solomon

The conference will take place in Oakland, CA from April 24-April 26. To learn more, volunteer and register, visit the website.