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What It Takes to Belong

The first taco of 2025 asked the question under all the others: what does it take for people to feel they truly belong? With researcher Sophie Johnson and a short film by Erifili Davies.

The universal apprenticeship

At some point, every one of us has had to learn how to fit in — a new team, a new school, a new street, a new country town. The journey to belonging is universal. But is belonging the same thing as fitting in? (Regulars will know a certain researcher would say absolutely not — fitting in means changing who you are; belonging means being who you are.)

So we asked the room: what does the feeling of belonging actually look like — individually, universally? And how do we create the feeling that we belong, in ourselves and for others?

Three homes: a film

We opened with a short film by Erifili Davies, sharing her journey of belonging across three places — Dubbo, Wollongong and Greece. Watching someone map their sense of place across continents does something useful to a room: it reminds everyone that belonging isn't a fixed address. It's something we carry, lose, rebuild and choose.

What the research says about new kids on the block

Belonging isn't a soft topic. It's studied, measured — and buildable.

Our expert guest, Sophie Johnson, is a Research Associate at the University of Sydney's School of Business, specialising in refugee workforce integration — including studying the successes and challenges of a migrant program inside a multinational organisation. Her research digs into what actually helps "new kids on the block" integrate: what works, what doesn't, and how the lessons of workforce belonging map onto every other kind — the new town, the new school, the new club.

The thread that ran through the night: belonging is built by the people already in the room at least as much as by the person arriving. Which makes it everyone's job — and a skill a community can practise. Ours does, monthly, over tacos.

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Sophie Johnson is a Research Associate at the University of Sydney's School of Business. Erifili Davies is a Dubbo-based writer, filmmaker and curator — 2024 Dubbo Cultural Person of the Year — whose work appears often in these pages. Bring your curious mind and your hungry tum: Taco'Bout Wednesdays is the coolest gang, and everyone belongs.