Zeitenwenden. Thinking in Upheaval

Conception: Susan Neiman, Potsdam
with Aleida Assmann, Konstanz; Breyten Breytenbach, Gorée/Paris; Rokhaya Diallo, Paris; J. Henry Fair, New York/Berlin; Ali Fathollah-Nejad, Berlin; Carey Harrison, New York; Stephen Holmes, New York; Eva Illouz, Jerusalem; Ivan Krastev, Vienna/Sofia; Harsh Mander, New Delhi; Thomas Meaney, Berlin; Eva Menasse, Berlin; Fintan O’Toole, Dublin/Princeton; Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Ithaca; Carl Tham, Stockholm; David van Reybrouck, Brussels; Zukiswa Wanner, Nairobi; James Wood, Cambridge, Mass.

Numerous developments over the last decade or so have signaled a tectonic shift in global affairs: a war of aggression in Europe, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate disruption, the forced displacement of millions, social polarization, the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theory, ubiquitous surveillance, unsettling advances in A.I., and the growth of authoritarianism—to name just some of the most alarming. Has the world reached what German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called a Zeitenwende, a turning point marking the start of a new era? If so, is it occurring along a single axis, or are multiple Zeitenwenden unfolding concurrently? How have recent upheavals challenged existing narratives and explanatory frameworks? What quandaries, real and conceptual, do they pose? How do geographic, political, or social standpoints affect perceptions of historic change? And what are the possibilities for regaining a sense of orientation?

Veranstaltung in englischer Sprache