Toward Belonging: Reflections in Practice

This article posits that advancing equity is necessary but not sufficient for creating a more just world: we need belonging. Using a lens of racial justice to define the concept of belonging, the author considers how to practice cultivating it within the context of an aquarium's community-based engagement. Through case studies framed by belonging tools developed by the Othering and Belonging Institute at the University of California at Berkeley, the article discusses possibilities for practicing belonging and acknowledges the vulnerability it entails.