Othering & Belonging

A choice that will determine the fate of humanity.

Additional Resources

“Us vs. Them: The Sinister Techniques of Othering — and How To Avoid Them,” by john a. powell

Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship Since Brown v. Board of Education, by Danielle S. Allen

Our Experts

john a. powell

john a. powell is Director of the Othering and Belonging Institute and Professor of Law, African American, and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He was previously the Executive Director at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at the Ohio State University, and prior to that, the founder and director of the Institute for Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota. john formerly served as the National Legal Director of the American CivilLiberties Union(ACLU). He is a co-founder of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council and serves on the boards of several national and international organizations. john led the development of an “opportunity-based” model that connects affordable housing to education, health, health care, and employment and is well-known for his work developing the frameworks of “targeted universalism” and “othering and belonging” to effect equity-based interventions. john has taught at numerous law schools including Harvard and Columbia University. His latest book is Racing to Justice: Transforming our Concepts of Self and Other to Build an Inclusive Society.

Bruce Miller, MD

Bruce Miller holds the A.W. and Mary Margaret Clausen Distinguished Professorship in Neurology at UCSF, where he directs the Memory and Aging Center. He is a behavioral neurologist whose work in neurodegenerative conditions emphasizes brain-behavior relationships and the genetic and molecular underpinnings of disease. He is the principal investigator of the NIH-sponsored Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and program project on frontotemporal dementia. Additionally, he helps lead the Tau Consortium, the Bluefield Project to Cure Frontotemporal Dementia, and the Global Brain Health Institute. He was awarded the Potamkin Award from the American Academy of Neurology and elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

SERGGIO LANATA, MD, MS

Serggio Lanata is a neurologist who cares for patients with cognitive impairment. He is director of the UCSF Memory and Aging Center’s (MAC) community outreach program, which aims to educate underserved and underrepresented communities on brain health and dementia topics, and improve these communities’ participation in clinical research at the MAC.

DANIELLE ALLEN, PHD

Danielle Allen is a political theorist who has published broadly in democratic theory, political sociology, and the history of political thought. Widely known for her work on justice and citizenship in both ancient Athens and modern America, Allen is the author of The World of Prometheus: the Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens (2000), Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown vs. the Board of Education (2004), Why Plato Wrote (2010), and Our Declaration (2014) and co-editor (with Rob Reich) of Education, Justice, and Democracy (2013). In 2002 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for her "ability to combine the classicist's careful attention to texts and language with the political theorist's sophisticated and informed engagement." She is currently working on books on citizenship in the digital age and political equality and directs The Democratic Knowledge Project, a group of research projects on knowledge and democracy. Among these is HULA, a project on assessment in the humanities and liberal arts. Allen is a frequent public lecturer and regular guest on public radio affiliates to discuss issues of citizenship and education policy, as well as a contributor on similar subjects to the Washington Post, Boston Review, Democracy, Cabinet, and The Nation.