Upcoming Events

Upcoming BIMI Events

BCCP Showcase Spring 2024

Save the date for BIMI's Cultures and Communities Project student showcase on Friday, March 15, from 1-5 pm at IGS library (109 Philosophy Hall).

BIMI Cultures and Communities Project (BCCP)endeavor to showcase the rich history and traditions of diasporic communities in California and educate the public about their history/culture and aims at looking deeper into reframing different ways in which belonging can manifest.

Come and join us for the research presentations of our amazing undergraduate students from UC Berkeley, Merced, and Santa Barbara!

| Register Here |

Sara Pugach | Marxists and other Migrants: African Intellectual Pathways from the German Democratic Republic

Monday, February 28 | 11:00AM - 12:00PM in 223 Philosophy Hall, UC Berkeley

While Professor Sara Pugach intends to write about former educational migrants who took all sorts of routes after their university or vocational training, this particular talk focuses on those students who became professors in the humanities or social sciences. She will explore the impact that their studies in the GDR had – or did not have – on their academic careers. Some of the former students she will discusses are ethnologist Yalla Eballa, historian Obarogie Ohonbamu, historian Bawuro Barkindo, historian Seth Nyagava, and literary scholar Amadou Booker Sadji.

| Register Here |

‘Harlem in Germany’: Race, Migration, and the American Analogy in the Federal Republic

Monday, September 12 | 5:00PM - 6:30PM in 201 Philosophy Hall, UC Berkeley

As West Germans discussed “difference” after 1945, they sought out a self-consciously “Western” and liberal way to discuss difference. The talk examines different examples of how US social science on race shaped policies on migration in West Germany, including how invoking “Harlem” as a racialized space shaped urban housing policy for migrants in Germany, and how a theory of child development borrowed from US social science was used to justify new restrictions on child migration.

Did Trump's Border Policies Deter Migration?

Monday, September 18 | 12:45-2:00PM in the Philip Selznick Seminar Room or Zoom

Organizer: Center for the Study of Law and Society (CSLS)

The Movement for Immigrant Voting Rights: Journey, Victories, Backlash, & Future

Thursday, October 26 | 3:30PM - 5:30PM in 109 Philosophy Hall, UC Berkeley

Join us on Oct 26, 2023 at 3:30 pm in the IGS library as academic and nonprofit researchers explain where the fight for immigrants’ political voice stands in San Francisco, what it means to communities, and what the future looks like across California.

Speakers: Prof. Irene Bloemraad (Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative), Prof. Eric Shickler (Institute of Governmental Studies), Prof. Ron Hayduk (SF State University), Annette Wong, Managing Director of Programs (Chinese for Affirmative Action), Prof. Stephanie Zonszein (UC Berkeley, Political Science)

Organizer: BIMI

Co-sponsors: Institute of Governmental Studies, Asian American Research Center, Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies, Center for Study of Law and Society, Center for Race and Gender

Clinical Borders: Bodies and Healthcare in the Central Mediterranean Route

Thursday, November 9 | 10:00-11:00AM on Zoom

Join us for a talk by Lorenzo Alunni about the corporeal experience of the contemporary Mediterranean border and its medical apparatus. Based on extensive ethnographic research on the island of Lampedusa—in the middle of the deadliest migration route in the contemporary world—this talk explores, on the one hand, the medical apparatus on the border as an instrument of migration governance and, on the other, the corporeal experience of the border and its forms of embodiment.

Organizer: Berkeley Center for Social Medicine,

Co-sponsors: Institute of European Studies, Department of Anthropology, Center for Ethnographic Research, Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative

What Are Friends For? How Friendships Promote Immigrant Integration: A Focus on Denmark

Monday, November 27 | 1:00-2:00 PM in 201 Philosophy Hall, UC Berkeley

In his presentation, Ashraf Rachid, BIMI migration workshop member and visiting scholar at the UC Berkeley Institute of European Studies, draws on his ongoing research project to address the question: do immigrants’ friendships with ethnic majority-members promote their integration?

Organizer: Institute of European Studies

Co-sponsors: Nordic Center, Department of Scandinavian, Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative

Digital Refuge: Presenting and Preserving Refugee Narratives

Wednesday, December 13 | 12:00-1:00 PM on Zoom

Register for this event on the Digital Refuge Project, which maps asylum seekers' journeys and allows users to explore how refugees' perceptions differ from the official crisis narrative. In this lecture, Prof. Katerina Linos (UC Berkeley School of Law) will present the scope of the project, which includes translating, coding, mapping and charting over 6,000 interviews with refugees, and over 10,000 Facebook posts from Arabic and Farsi refugee sites, to contrast the official narrative of the European refugee crisis, with the refugee crisis seen from the perspective of displaced persons themselves.

Co-sponsors: Modern Greek & Hellenic Studies Program, Institute of European Studies, France-Berkeley Fund, The Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law, INALCO, Center of Excellence in French and Francophone Studies, Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative

BIMI Student Showcase

BIMI is organizing its Cultures and Communities Project showcase on May 4, Thursday from 11-1 pm at IGS library (109 Philosophy Hall).

BIMI Cultures and Communities Project (BCCP) aims at looking deeper into these questions by reframing different ways in which belonging can manifest. Come and join us for research presentations:

Mehnaz Grewal: Chardi-Kala: Sikhs-Here and There
Alexandra Gessesse: Ethiopians Abroad: Blackness, Transnationalism, & Self-Determination
Batul Aledah: Turath: Examining the Rich Cultural Heritage of Yemen and her Diaspora
Nilufar Kayhani: Zindagi: Lives of the Afghan Community in the Bay Area

Reshaping City Politics?

Register now for this BIMI co-sponsored event with Berkeley Canadaian Studies Program and The Citric Center Public Opinion on April 24th. Panelists will discuss the recent SF and Vancouver elections and the Asian Voter's demands for change in SF and Vancouver.

Matrix on Point: Border Crossings

Join Thurs. 4/20 (online or in-person) at 12pm PT for "Matrix on Point: Border Crossings," with PhD Candidates, Pauline White Meeusen, and Adriana P. Ramirez sharing research on borders and migration. Mod. by Irene Bloemraad

On Trains: To All Migrants, Past, Present, and Future

February 10 | 4:00 PM |
Organized by On the Same Page Program, the Multicultural Community Center, the Undocumented Student Program, and the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative

Indigenous and Asian Entanglements: Space, Time, Tense

February 17 | 4:00PM |
Organized by the Center for Race & Gender, Asian American & Asian Diaspora Studies, Asian American Research Center, Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, Joseph A. Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues, and Native American Studies Program

Citizenship, Illegalization, and Insularity

March 10 | 4:00PM |
Organized by by On the Same Page Program, the Multicultural Community Center, the Undocumented Student Program, and the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative

Crossed by the Border: Migration and the Crisis Imaginary

April 7 | 4:00 PM |
Organized by CRG's Native/Immigrant/Refugee - Crossings Research Initiative. Co-sponsored by the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, and the Institute of European Studies.

Unsettling Borders: O'odham (Indigenous) Land as Intervention and Analytic

April 21 | 4:00PM |
Organized by CRG’s Native/Immigrant/Refugee – Crossings Research Initiative. Co-sponsored by the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, Joseph A. Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues, and Native American Studies Program

Una Escuela llamada América Screening

September 17 | 3:00 PM |
Organized by Berkeley Library, The Center for Latin American Studies, BIMI

Radical Kinship Series

October 11 | 4:00 PM |
Organized by the Center for Race and Gender, the On the Same Page Program, the Multicultural Community Center, the Undocumented Student Program, and BIMI

Immigration Matters: Movements, Visions, and Strategies for a Progressive Future

October 11| 11:00AM |
Organized by the UC Berkeley Labor Center, Institute of Governmental Studies, and the Multicultural Community Center and BIMI

Making Middle-Class Multiculturalism: Immigration Bureaucrats and Policymaking in Postwar Canada

October 12| 12:30PM |
Organized by Canadian Studies Program, Center for Race and Gender, Institute of International Studies and BIMI

The Role of Politics and Violence on Mexican Repatriation during the Great Depression

October 25| 12:45PM |
Organized by Center for the Study of Law and Society, Center for Race & Gender, the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice and BIMI

Matrix On Point: The Rights and Lives of Non-Citizens

October 29 | 10:00 AM |
Organized by the Berkeley Social Science Matrix and BIMI

BIMI Fall Symposium

December 7 | 2:30 PM - 5:00 PM |
Organized by BIMI

American Cultures Prize Ceremony

November 15 | 2:00PM

January 19 | 12:00 - 1:30 PM | Online | Immigration Policy: Ideas for the Biden Administration

February 22 | 12:45 - 2:00 PM | Online | CSLS Speaker Series: Shannon Gleeson

March 4 | 12:00 - 1:00 PM | Online | Design Politics, the Border, and The Passport

March 30 | 10 AM - 1 PM | Online | Climate Displacement: A Solutions-Based Panel

September 1 | 12:30 PM | Online | No Safe Country for Refugees? The Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement Before the Canadian Courts

September 1-10 | Online | 15th Summer Institute on Migration and Global Health - "Protecting Migrants and Refugees During Pandemics"

September 10 | 12:00 - 1:00 PM | Online | "Dreamers and the Future of DACA"

September 10 | 4:00 - 5:00 PM | Online | "The 'Chinese Virus' - A History of Epidemics, Violence, and Anti-Asian Racism"

September 15-22 | Online | 15th Summer Institute on Migration and Global Health - "Protecting Migrants and Refugees During Pandemics"

September 28 | 12:00 - 1:30 PM | Online | Interdisciplinary Immigration Workshop | Luis Tenorio - "How Legal Organizations Shape Incorporation of Central American Unaccompanied Minors" | Andy Chang - "Gender, Occupation, and the Social Organization of Labor Migration in Indonesia"

October 8 | 4:00 - 5:30 PM | Online | "Undocumented Students at UC Berkeley: Campus Climate and Resources"

October 12 | 12:00 - 1:30 PM | Online | Interdisciplinary Immigration Workshop | Nallely Mejia - "Mexican Immigrant Couples and Food Negotiations Through Life Events" | Andrea Miranda-Gonzalez - "Can we use the Mexican Labor Force Survey to understand characteristics of Mexican migrants?"

October 21 | 5:00 - 6:00 PM | Online | The 2020 Election and The Politics of Racial Justice

October 26 | 12:00 - 1:30 PM | Online | Interdisciplinary Immigration Workshop | Alein Haro - "How Experiences and Perceptions of Immigration Policies Shape Mental Health Among Day Laborers in the East Bay" | Carlos Schmidt-Padilla - "The Returned: Repatriations, Elections, and Policy Polarization in El Salvador"

October 27 | 10:00 AM | Online | Criminalization of Climate Migrants

October 27 | 12:30 PM | Online | Divided by the Wall: Progressive and Conservative Immigration Politics at the U.S.-Mexico Border

November 2 | 12:45 - 2:00 PM | Online | "Democracy, Civil Society, & Free and Fair Elections"

November 16 | 12:45 - 2:00 PM | Online | "Crossing: How We Label and React to People on the Move"

November 23 | 12:00 - 1:30 PM | Online | Interdisciplinary Immigration Workshop | Johanna Schenner - "Experiences of (Unlawful) Employment Conditions by Undocumented and Guest Workers in the California Strawberry Industry" | Nadia Almasalkhi - "Transnational Political Engagement in the U.S.-based Syrian Diaspora"

December 11 | 12:00 - 2:00 PM | Online | "Disaster and Displacement: Inequalities in Climate Migration"

Migration-Related Berkeley Events Fall 2020

September 1-24 | Online | Protecting Migrants and Refugees During Pandemics

September 6 | 12:00 - 1:30 PM | Online | REI Colloquium: "Bad Apples come from Rotten Trees in Policing: The Pursuit of Racial Equity"

Sep. 8 - Nov. 20 | Online | Exit West: Immigration on Film

September 15 | 12:00 - 2:00 PM | Online | Return: On Blackness and Belonging in North America

October 20 | 8:00 - 9:20 AM | Online | COVID-19 and Forced Displacement in the Global South

November 16 | 9 AM - 12 PM | Online | Evidence to Action (E2A) 2020: Climate Change and the Global South

December 1 | 12:00 - 1:30 PM | Online | The Gay Second Generation: How Sexuality Shapes the Trajectories of Queer Sons of Immigrants

Upcoming Events

Upcoming BIMI Events

Spring 2024

Spring 2024

Fall 2023

Fall 2023

Spring 2023

Spring 2022

Fall 2021

Spring 2021

Fall 2020