Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, UC Berkeley

Sponsored by ISSI’s Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues & co-sponsored by Native American Student Development, Native American Thriving Initiatives, @ucberkeleyenglish.bsky.social, and Department of Rhetoric

Apology and Apostrophe: Animating Native American Absence in Layli Long Soldier’s Whereas This talk by Brandi Bushman tracks the apology as a rhetorical form across two impacted sites of narrative production. Buried within the 2010 Depar...

Join us on Tue, Oct 28, at 12pm for a hybrid event with Brandi Bushman: Apology and Apostrophe: Animating Native American Absence in Layli Long Soldier’s Whereas

📍 Native Community Center in Anthony Hall at UC Berkeley & on Zoom

Register today: bit.ly/BushmanCRNAI

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Brower Center. The thoughtful questions and shared reflections were a reminder of how vital community conversations are. ✨

Co-sponsors: @ucberkeleyenglish.bsky.social, Arts Research Center, & Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies Program.

Two weeks ago, ISSI's Asian American Research Center hosted a powerful panel with @zentronix.bsky.social, @cathyparkhong.bsky.social, @terisasiagatonu.bsky.social, & Colleen Lye on writing, culture, politics, and solidarity in a rapidly shifting world.

The history of vaccine hesitancy, from smallpox to COVID-19 - Berkeley News Elena Conis, a journalism and history professor at UC Berkeley, explains how attitudes and federal policy about vaccines have evolved in the U.S.

Elena Conis, faculty affiliate, explains how attitudes and federal policy about vaccines have evolved in the U.S. Conis documents how the medical advancements of vaccines altered the ways Americans perceived the very illnesses the shots could prevent. news.berkeley.edu/2025/09/26/t...

Health care isn't working for everyone. Watch a professor explain why. - Berkeley News Health disparities leave women — particularly women of color, immigrants and other historically marginalized populations — with shorter lifespans than their white male counterparts.

Tina Sacks, Chair of the Center for Research on Social Change, explains how health disparities leave women of color, immigrants & other historically marginalized populations with shorter lifespans than their white male counterparts, in in this 101 second video. news.berkeley.edu/2025/09/18/h...

Fall 2025 Artist in Residence with Rhummanee Hang (October 14th-16th) Thank you for your interest in joining us for the Fall 2025 Critical Southeast Asian American Studies Artist in Residence with Rhummanee Hang. You can use this form to RSVP for the different events th...

From October 14-16, @rhummanee.bsky.social is joining us for the Fall 2025 Critical Southeast Asian American Studies Artist in Residence.

UC Berkeley students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members—you won't want to miss this!

For details and to RSVP: bit.ly/Hang2025

The “Vicious Voter” Myth and the Racial Authoritarianism in American Law This talk provides an account of the American vicious voter myth, examining how it gives expression to racial colorblindness and formalistic racial...

Join us on Tue, Oct 21, at 4 p.m. for a hybrid event with @atibaellis.bsky.social: "The 'Vicious Voter' Myth and the Racial Authoritarianism in American Law"

📍 2111 Bancroft Way, #104, Berkeley & on Zoom

Register today: bit.ly/AtibaEllis

Khmae Amathak: Grounded & Guided by Ancestral Wisdom Rhummanee HANG will invoke the various teachings and experiences that inform her identity, art, and community organizing. Through dance and poetry,...

Join our hybrid event next week with @rhummanee.bsky.social!

Wed, Oct 15 at 4:30pm PT
Alumni House & via Zoom

Register: bit.ly/Rhummanee

Sponsors: Asian Pacific American Student Development, Asian American Political Activation Program, and Asian American Research Center

In this article Lee Crandall, a grad student affiliate, states that tech authoritarians tend to view liberal democracies as inefficient & instead favor privatized technocratic governance, where private sectors make major decisions rather than politicians. ls.berkeley.edu/news/geograp...

Asian American Research Center & Center for Research on Social Change affiliate Eos Trinidad has a new research article where he quantitatively examines what predicts anti-“CRT” & anti-LGBTQ political issues & educational disruptions in US school districts. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Senior Researcher Robin Marsh led a 2 year study to assess the impact of the 1,000 Women's Gardens for Health and Nutrition intervention, which supported almost 700 vulnerable women in Uganda. A report on the study & a brief summary are available on the project webpage. issi.berkeley.edu/1000WG

What counts as ‘Asian American literature,’ anyway? - Berkeley News Long Le-Khac, an assistant professor of ethnic studies at UC Berkeley, just published a 1,900-entry dataset that he hopes will be used to investigate which works are discussed as “Asian American” in s...

Long Le-Khac, Asian American Research Center faculty affiliate, has published a new dataset of 1,900 entries aimed at examining which works are cited as “Asian American” in scholarly discourse. news.berkeley.edu/2025/09/16/w...

2025 ASA Award Winners | American Sociological Association We are pleased to introduce you to the distinguished winners of ASA’s 2025 awards. The winners will be honored in a ceremony during the Annual Meeting in

Carole Joffe, faculty affiliate, won the 2025 American Sociological Association’s Distinguished Career Award for the Practice of Sociology. Joffe’s research & advocacy on behalf of reproductive health & rights serves as an exemplar for an impactful sociological career. www.asanet.org/about/awards...

You did it! 31 donors helped us raise $8,885 during our #OskiBday Bear-a-thon! With a $7,500 match from 3 incredible supporters, we reached $16,385 for mentoring at ISSI. Huge thanks to all who gave! Missed it? You can still support: bit.ly/GiveISSI
#UCBerkeleyISSI

With high schoolers' help, UC Berkeley researchers investigate why so many students are chronically absent - Berkeley News The multi-year project partners with San Francisco students to design and interpret studies exploring chronic absenteeism — and explore how young people can be part of the solution.

Emily Ozer, faculty affiliate, is co-leading a collaboration between UC Berkeley researchers and San Francisco students to investigate the causes of chronic absenteeism. Ozer explains, “It is vital to partner with students in solving the problem.” news.berkeley.edu/2025/07/07/w...

Newsom, Trump and How Trolling Got Co-Opted by the Powerful | KQED As the war of memes between Gavin Newsom and Donald Trump heats up, what happens when Internet humor — once a tool for Internet users to criticize the powerful — gets co-opted by those in power themse...

Abigail De Kosnik, ISSI affiliate, shares her expertise in this KQED news story on Newsom's new style of social media posts: "There’s a real value in speaking about politics in a vernacular language because a lot of people feel alienated from politics." www.kqed.org/news/1205485...

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⏰ We’ve got two hours left of our matching gift to celebrate #OskiBDay Help #ucberkeleyISSI continue to support peer mentoring for social change scholars. bit.ly/ISSIoski

A group of people in conversation with an image of Oski, the words Support ISSI, and a QR code to link in post

Within the next two hours, your donation can help us win a prize! And all #BearAThon gifts to #UCBerkeleyISSI will be doubled! Help us support future generations of social change scholars. #OskiBDay Ready.. Set.. Go! bit.ly/ISSIoski

Emily Thompson, affiliate of the Center for Ethnographic Research, has received funding from UCLA Library's Modern Endangered Archives Program for her project "(Dis)appearing Images: Archiving the Peruvian Internal Armed Conflict." meap.library.ucla.edu

Two people and Oski, the UC Berkeley mascot, leaning in close together

ISSI Director Kurt Organista, Professor Emeritus Ian Bailey and #oski all want you to donate to help every Cal student feel at home! Your gift to #ucberkeleyissi will be matched 1:1. Support mentorship of social change scholars! bit.ly/ISSIoski
#BearAThon #OskiBDay #UCBearthechange

Photo of two people pointing at each other with a sign that says “Thank you to my mentor.”

Photo of two people smiling with a sign that says Support UC Berkeley ISSI.

Calling all alums! Who was your mentor? Tag us in a post that says
I'm celebrating Oski's birthday by supporting #UCBerkeleyISSI
and include #OskiBday to help us win a prize! Reflect on your time at the Institute and celebrate your mentors. Gifts will be doubled! Donate → bit.ly/ISSIoski

A photo with a group of people smiling and holding balloons that say "Support ISSI"

Hey #UCBerkeleyISSI Fam! Oski’s B-Day Bear-a-thon is an online fundraiser to help Cal students feel at home! At ISSI, we mentor the next generation of social change scholars, providing them the support to change the academy… and the world! Double your impact; give now! bit.ly/ISSIoski
#OskiBDay

Berkeley Center for Social Medicine affiliate Yan Long's book, Authoritarian Absorption, has recently won 3 American Sociological Association Section awards & an Academy of Management Public & Nonprofit Division Best Book Honorable Mention award. Congrats Professor Long!
share.google/btOPbBXE09K2...

Welcome ISSI Grad Fellows Larissa Benjamin, Alexandra Gessesse, Jessica Law, Lisa Ng, Robert Ortiz Stahl, Marlena Robbins, & Kieren Rudge, coming from African American & African Diaspora Studies; Anthropology; Environmental Science, Policy, & Management; Ethnic Studies; Public Health; & Sociology.

At a low point in U.S. race relations, Black teachers are essential — and at risk  - Berkeley News Travis J. Bristol has built his early career at UC Berkeley on research into the experience of Black teachers in America. Schools have made great strides in hiring them, he says, so why are they leaving the classroom in droves?

This Berkeley News story describes Travis J. Bristol's research showing that in classes led by Black teachers, Black students were more often happier & academically successful, less likely to be suspended for infractions and more likely to enroll in honors courses. news.berkeley.edu/2025/08/22/a...

YouTube video by UC Berkeley Community-engaged research explained in 101 seconds | 101 in 101

In this series that challenges Berkeley experts to distill their work into 101 seconds, Lisa García Bedolla, faculty affiliate, defines community-engaged research as deeply intertwined with the people whose lives & experiences are being studied from beginning to end. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV3M...

The Stakes Explained A page with links to videos and podcasts that explore the effects of Trump administration policies through talking with campus experts.

Faculty affiliates Sarah Song, Travis Bristol, and Cristina Mora are featured on a new podcast series called "The Stakes Explained" as they break down some of Trump’s executive orders on issues like immigration, education, and regulatory rollbacks. journalism.berkeley.edu/featured-new...

How Trump’s trade war has forced me to rediscover my hidden superpower OPINION: “Yes, there’s much we can’t control. But we can always do something. And lately, I’m discovering that something may be nothing,” says UCSF assistant professor Stacy Torres.

Stacy Torres, faculty affilate, has a new op-ed in the @sfchronicle.com about how she is responding to the economic uncertainty of Trump's trade war. She reflects on finding more sustainable ways to respond to scarcity that are rooted in community connections. www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...

UC Berkeley student collective Archive of Urban Futures shines at new OMCA exhibit - Berkeley News Through archival work, community workshops, and shared creative projects, the collective explores how generations of Black Oakland communities faced waves of dispossession, and asks how to imagine a f...

The Archive of Urban Futures collective, including ISSI grad students Clara Pérez Medina, Maya Sapienza, juleon robinson, and Bobby Ortiz Stahl, investigate how generations of Black Oakland residents have endured repeated waves of dispossession. Read more here: news.berkeley.edu/2025/07/25/u...