[JFKI-News] "Utopian Openings and Closings: The COVID Pandemic and Its Aftermath"

["Sekr. Abt. Literatur des ZI JFK" <literature@jfki.fu-berlin.de>]

Dear colleagues and friends,

Dear students,

 

This Wednesday (Dec. 7) at 5:30pm the JFKI Literature Department, in partnership with Cultures of the Future at the Centre for English, Translation, and Anglo-Portuguese Studies (CETAPS) of the University Porto, would like to invite BA and MA students to join us for an online conversation on

"Utopian Openings and Closings: The COVID Pandemic and its Aftermath" with

• Julia Gibson (Antioch University)

• Rhiannon Firth (UCL Institute of Education)

           hosted by

• Manuel Sousa Oliveira (Porto/CETAPS) and
• Tobias Annamlay Jochum (JFKI)

The session will be streamed live on Youtube on the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/@cetapsfcshunl8892
Attendees will be able to comment and ask questions through the YouTube chat function.

 

For any questions please contact:

culturesofthefuture@gmail.com or
cetaps@letras.up.pt

 

In this conversation, it will be explored from an ethical and utopian perspective our current global challenges and their (im)possible solutions in light of these hopes and missed opportunities since the early months of the pandemic. As our timeline lines up one dystopian scene after another—the pandemic, the war, the energy crisis, the rise of authoritarianism—(pop) culture and literature have turned to utopian thought to grapple with a crisis-ridden world. On screen, for example, shows like The Good Place (2016-2020) or Severence (2022-) insist on the ethics of personal choice in the everyday as an inflection point for larger utopian (and dystopian) implications. In the same vein, Ursula K. Le Guin writes in her post-capitalist utopia Always Coming Home (1985): “Accidents happened to people, but what people did they were responsible for.” As humanities scholars, the conversation will be drawing on the utopian imagination to ask how we may help usher in a livable future through a critical engagement with the now.

Looking forward to seeing many of you tomorrow!

Tobias Annamalay Jochum

Manuel Oliveira Sousa

Attachment: Utopia Panel CotF POSTER 7-12-2022.pdf
Description: Utopia Panel CotF POSTER 7-12-2022.pdf