Events

The Matsui Lecture is delivered each year by a distinguished former Member of Congress. In addition to speaking at a large public event, the Lecturer also speaks to classes, meets with students, and participates in the intellectual life of the Matsui Center and the Cal campus. Following a pandemic-related hiatus, we are thrilled to restart the Matsui Lecture...

In The Manufacturing of Job Displacement: How Racial Capitalism Drives Immigrant and Gender Inequality in the Labor Market (NYU Press, 2024), Dr. Laura López-Sanders investigates the structural mechanisms by which employers shape labor market inequalities through practices of “racialized orchestrated displacement.” Drawing on nearly two years of participant observation as both a laborer and supervisor, as well as in-depth interviews, Dr. López-Sanders offers a nuanced analysis of how employers in low-turnover industries strategically...

Enjoy sweet and savory bites and toast to the new year while catching up on summer adventures with fellow IGS affiliated faculty, graduate students, student assistants, staff, and fellows. We'll also hear from IGS co-directors Cristina Mora and Eric Schickler about the exciting year of events and programs we have in store!

This talk will focus on my book, Making Never-Never Land: Race and Law in the Creation of Puerto Rico, which argues that despite the endurance of Puerto Rico’s colonial status well into the twenty first century, its path to becoming one of the world’s oldest colonies was not exceptional. Race and law have acted as organizing principles structuring the US-Puerto Rico relationship since its inception. I argue that to fully understand how and why Puerto Rico was organized in law, we must look to a longer history of US settler...