Past Events

On November 4th, 3:30-5:00pm, Nicole Wilson (Northwestern, Political Science) will offer a workshop for GMS Designated Emphasis students on strategies for conducting research with hard-to-reach populations, drawing in her own work in Subsaharan Africa. The workshop will take place in the Social Science Matrix. RSVP here.

Mona Farwaz, Professor of Architecture and Design at the American University of Beirut, will present on “Planning Amid Division: The Politics of the “Public” in Beirut (Lebanon)” for a GMS and DCRP lecture on Thursday Oct. 29th, 3:30pm – 5:00pm at Wurster 106. This presentation interrogates the normative foundations of progressive planning, particularly its assumption that participatory and co-productive practices can provide an adequate pathway toward inclusive planning responses. It does so against the backdrop of a global context in which the rise of right-wing populist politics has profoundly unsettled assumptions about a functional public. Once grounded in the…

Mona Farwaz, Professor of Architecture and Design at the American University of Beirut, will offer a workshop for graduate students on 28 October, 12:30—2 pm, 214B Bauer Wurster. This presentation interrogates the normative foundations of progressive planning, particularly its assumption that participatory and co-productive practices can provide an adequate pathway toward inclusive planning responses. It does so against the backdrop of a global context in which the rise of right-wing populist politics has profoundly unsettled assumptions about a functional public. Once grounded in the belief in a shared or common interest, planning now operates within an increasingly fragmented political…

On Tuesday Oct. 20th (12:30-1:30pm), Kimberly Johnson from NYU (Dept. of Social and Cultural Analysis) will speak on her new award-winning book, “Dark Concrete: Black Power Urbanism and the American Metropolis.” The workshop will tkae place in the Harris Room in Philosophy Hall, and is co-organized with the Identity and Politics Workshop. No RSVP required.

We invite existing GMS DE students and faculty affiliates, as well as those who are interested in joining, to our fall open house! It will take place on Friday Oct. 16th 2pm-3:30 in the Social Science Matrix. Come meet new GMS Co-Director Yan Long and learn about the summer research conducted by DE students last year. Please RSVP.

Join us for a joint GMS – Comparative Politics colloquium with Professor Tariq Thachil (University of Pennsylvania) on Thursday, October 8th, 12:30-2:00pm (SSB 202). Thachil will present “Idle Capital: The Politics of Unspent Funds in India’s Municipal Governments.” No RSVP required

On Tuesday, Sept 15th, 12:30-1:45 at 820 Social Science Building, doctoral students will have a casual, low-key opportunity to hear how Dr. Gutiérrez approaches his research methodologically. Moderated by GMS incoming Co-Director Yan Long, the discussion will focus on ethnography in peri-urban and urban contexts in the Global South: which approaches are particularly effective in these settings, how space is conceptualized, and how that shapes method in practice. Lunch will be provided. Register through this link.

GMS and Geography are co-sponsoring a lecture by Dr. Julio Gutierrez (Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Berkeley) at the Geography Colloquium on September 9, 2026 3:30-5:00pm at 575 McCone Hall. His lecture is titled “Real Estate Populism: Urban Spectacles and the Ecological Origins of Bukelismo in El Salvador.” Guttierez received his PhD in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. No RSVP required.

The Global South & East Asia Workshop at the UC Berkeley Department of Sociology is organizing a book talk with Phi Hong Su, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Williams College and a 2018 Ph.D. graduate in Sociology from UCLA, on her award-winning book The Border Within: Vietnamese Migrants Transforming Ethnic Nationalism in Berlin. Drawing on rich ethnographic research, the book examines how Northern and Southern Vietnamese migrants in post-unification Berlin experience one another as divided rather than unified by shared ethnicity, and how migration, state formation, and border crossing reshape social, cultural, and religious boundaries. The event will take…

Come join fellow faculty and DE students for a celebration of accomplishments, including completed dissertations! Also, come test your urban knowledge against that of your peers in our annual quiz bowl. There will be food, drinks, and prizes! Please RSVP. NOTE – This event has been changed. The new date is May 8, 2026. Location will be emailed to those who RSVP that they will attend.