For The Wild is hon­ored to present a series of con­ver­sa­tions enti­tled, The Edges in the Mid­dle, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with UC Berke­leys Oth­er­ing and Belong­ing Insti­tute. In the first of these con­ver­sa­tions, Bayo Ako­mo­lafe speaks with john a. pow­ell, Direc­tor of the Oth­er­ing & Belong­ing Institute.

Speak­ing on the theme When just get­ting along isn’t enough: Is belong­ing pos­si­ble in a world root­ed in oth­er­ing?, Bayo and john con­tem­plate the onto­log­i­cal weight of our desire for belong­ing. How might we learn how to belong togeth­er? Artic­u­lat­ing both the harsh real­i­ties of mod­ern day divi­sion and the simul­ta­ne­ous real­i­ty of our con­nec­tion to each oth­er and to the earth, Bayo and john exam­ine what it means to be oth­er and to invite in the mon­strous and the strange.

The Edges in the Mid­dle is a series of con­ver­sa­tions between Bayo Ako­mo­lafe and thought com­pan­ions like john a. pow­ell, V, Nao­mi Klein, and more. These lim­it­ed episodes have been adapt­ed from Bay­o’s work as the Glob­al Senior Fel­low at UC Berke­ley’s Oth­er­ing & Belong­ing Insti­tute. In this role, By has been hold­ing a series of pub­lic con­ver­sa­tions on issues of jus­tice and belong­ing for the Insti­tute’s Democ­ra­cy & Belong­ing Forum, which con­nects and resources civic lead­ers in Europe and the US who are com­mit­ted to bridg­ing across dif­fer­ence to strength­en democ­ra­cy and advance belong­ing in both regions and around the world. Bay­o’s con­ver­sa­tions encour­age us to rethink jus­tice, hope, and belong­ing by sit­ting amidst the noise, not try­ing to cov­er it up with pleas­ant rhythms. To learn more about the Democ­ra­cy & Belong­ing Forum, vis­it democ​ra​cyand​be​long​ing​fo​rum​.org.