University of California, Berkeley

Irene Bloemraad is the founding director of Berkeley’s Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative (BIMI) and the Class of 1951 Professor of Sociology. Bloemraad studies how migrants become incorporated into the political communities where they live, and the consequences of migration for politics and understandings of membership. She has investigated why immigrants become citizens, whether immigrant communities face inequities in building and accessing community-based organizations, and how non-immigrants’ attitudes about immigration policy shifts depending on whether we talk about human rights, citizenship, family unity, or appeals to national values. Her research has been published in academic journals spanning sociology, political science, history, and ethnic/ migration studies, and she has authored or co-edited five books, including The Oxford Handbook of Citizenship (2017), Rallying for Immigrant Rights(2011) and Becoming a Citizen (2006). In 2014-15, Bloemraad served as a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences panel reporting on the integration of immigrants into U.S. society. She is also a co-director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research’s “Boundaries, Membership and Belonging” program.

Personal webpage: http://sociology.berkeley.edu/faculty/irene-bloemraad