Global Cultures

In past historical eras and in contemporary global conditions, we at Berkeley continually explore the transnational reach of people and cultures across the world. In this theme, we consider the role of the arts in the formation of nation-states, the movements of diaspora, the history of refugees, the experience of migration, and amid all cultural forms that enable and dis-enable global connection.

Fall 2020 Schedule
Arts + Design Mondays: Together: Reinventing Politics, Reimagining Health

 

Fall 2020 Schedule
Arts + Design Thursdays: Visual Cultures: Aesthetics of the Digital

 

Viet Thanh Nguyen's life changed when he won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2016 for his startling debut novel, "The Sympathizer." In recent years, Nguyen, the hypervisible Aerol Arnold Chair of English at the University of Southern California, became a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, received a MacArthur Fellowship (commo

The first time that Laila Espinoza crossed the U.S.-Mexico border was as a young girl with her grandmother. “I’ve always been a border crosser,” said Espinoza. “It’s who I am.”

Imagine a reality where migration didn’t involve a journey, and instead, anyone could simply walk through a door and be in another country. That’s what author Mohsin Hamid does in Exit West, his 2017 novel that tells the story of two characters — Saeed and Nadia — who meet and fall in love as their country breaks out in a civil war.

There’s a spot in Berkeley where time has stopped and a five-month lockdown never happened. The front pages of newspapers from around the globe report on a relatively new virus called COVID-19 and how different nations are tackling it.

Four (brilliant!) finalists named for 2020 University Medal

Berkeley is known globally as a center of academic excellence, attracting the best and brightest students from the United States and the world. But in every class, a small cohort of students are distinguished by their wide-ranging interests, deep commitment and, of course, hard work.

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Literature and the arts in times of crisis

Literature and the arts have always held a prominent place in helping to define who we are as human beings and in enriching our lives. This is all the more apparent during moments of crisis, like the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Two Bay Area directors premiere virtual reality films online at Tribeca Film Festival

New York’s Tribeca Film Festival, one of the top festivals on the independent film circuit, is only happening online this month, but it’s still quite a coup to be included, and two Bay Area filmmakers are a part of it.