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Interview with Ngugi Wa Thiong’o 500 300 domonda

Interview with Ngugi Wa Thiong’o

The work of Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children’s literature.

Venice, 05/04/2018

The Center for the Humanities and Social Change at Ca‘ Foscari University of Venice co-sponsors a dedicated session at the Venice international literature fest Incroci di Civiltà (Crossroads of Civilizations) where world-renowned Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong’o, one of Africa’s leading voices, will be interviewed by the Center’s director, Shaul Bassi, and by one the Fellows, writer Igiaba Scego.

Details on the Festival can be found here.

5 April, 6 p.m., at Auditorium Santa Margherita, Dorsoduro 3689, Venice
Event in English, Italian translation available

International Summer School Critical Theory 2018: Re-Thinking Ideology 500 300 domonda

International Summer School Critical Theory 2018: Re-Thinking Ideology

Why do people often accept, and even embrace, social and political conditions that seem to run counter to their own interests? How is it possible that we sometimes support forms of domination with our ways of behaving and thinking without intending or even realizing it?

Berlin, 15-20 July 2018: Summer School Critical Theory.

One answer to these questions refers to the notion of ideology. Ideologies are more or less coherent systems of practices and beliefs that shape how individuals relate to their social reality in ways that distort their understanding of what is wrong with that reality and thereby contribute to its reproduction.

The summer school will seek to clarify the meanings and theoretical roles of ideology, as the concept has been prominently developed from the writings of Marx via Critical Theory in the tradition of the Frankfurt School to more recent debates in feminism and analytic philosophy. Key contemporary protagonists of ideology critique like Sally Haslanger, Robert Gooding-Williams, Axel Honneth, Alice Crary, Karen Ng, Titus Stahl, Robin Celikates, Martin Saar and Rahel Jaeggi will be present at the summer school and facilitate debates both of key texts from canonical authors and of their own systematic positions.

Instructors: Robin Celikates (University of Amsterdam), Alice Crary (Oxford/New School), Robert Gooding-Williams (Columbia), Sally Haslanger (MIT), Axel Honneth (Columbia/IfS), Rahel Jaeggi (HU Berlin), Karen Ng (Vanderbilt), Martin Saar (Goethe University Frankfurt), Titus Stahl (Groningen).

Organizers: Rahel Jaeggi, Eva von Redecker, Isette Schuhmacher (Humboldt University Berlin), Robin Celikates (University of Amsterdam), Martin Saar (Goethe University, Frankfurt) in cooperation with the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research and the New School for Social Research.

The application deadline for participants has already closed, but there will be two panel-discussions on the evenings of Monday 16th and Thursday 19th which are open to the public.

International Workshop: Afropean Bridges. Identity, Representation, Opportunities 1024 576 domonda

International Workshop: Afropean Bridges. Identity, Representation, Opportunities

Afropean Bridges aims to open a discussion about the achievements of the Africa-EU partnership and to address social and cultural issues related to the post-colonial relationship between European and African countries.

Venice, 20/04/2018

The international workshop is organized by the Center for the Humanities and Social Change at Ca‘ Foscari University of Venice in partnership with the NGO Progressi.

Full program and more information here

A new edition of Afropean Bridges is in the making for March 2019. Stay tuned.


April 20th, 2018 – 10 a.m – 6 p.m.
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Aula Baratto (2nd Floor)
Dorsoduro 3246, Calle Larga Foscari

Veronica fernandez, Laeticia Ouedraogo
Ada Ugo Abara, Cécile Kyenge, Veronica Fernandez
Pape Diaw, Veronica Fernandez, Karen Taylor, Mussie Zerai
Alice Crary: Inside Ethics, Book Presentation (invitation only) 500 300 domonda

Alice Crary: Inside Ethics, Book Presentation (invitation only)

We have come to think of human beings and animals as elements of a morally indifferent reality that reveals itself only to neutral or science-based methods.

Berlin, 31/05/2018.

This little-commented-on trend, which shapes the work of moral philosophers and popular ethical writers alike, has pernicious effects, distorting our understanding of the difficulty of moral thinking. Inside Ethics traces the roots of existing views to tendencies in ethics, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind. Crary underlines the moral urgency of revisiting our approach in ethics so that, instead of assuming we confront a world that itself places no demands on moral imagination, we treat the exercise of moral imagination as necessary for arriving at an adequate world-guided understanding of human beings and animals. The result is a commanding case for a reorientation in ethics that illuminates central challenges of moral thought about human and animal lives, directing attention to important aspects of these lives that are otherwise hidden from view.

Organized by the chair for social philosophy (Rahel Jaeggi) and the social philosophy research Colloquium.

31st May 2018 6-9pm (Invitation Only) in Berlin

photo of the founder and the Center directors;
Entrepreneur Erck Rickmers sets up international Foundation for Social Change 500 300 domonda

Entrepreneur Erck Rickmers sets up international Foundation for Social Change

The new foundation aims to analyse the underlying causes of the societal challenges in the 21st century, to encourage the development of new solutions, and to shape social change.

  • Initiative promotes humanities research into the societal challenges of our time
  • A collaboration with the Humboldt-University zu Berlin, the University of Cambridge, the University of California and Ca` Foscari University of Venice

Hamburg/Berlin, 27 February 2018. To promote interdisciplinary research into the major societal challenges of our times is the aspiration driving the “Humanities & Social Change International Foundation”, which is unveiled in Berlin today by the Hamburg-based entrepreneur Erck Rickmers (53). “I consider the world to be in a state of crisis – ecologically, economically, politically, culturally and spiritually,” said Rickmers. Committed to the guiding principles “Understand – Inspire – Change”, the foundation aims to analyse the underlying causes of the societal challenges in the 21st century and to encourage the development of new solutions, and thus to actively shape social change.

photo of the founder and the Center directors;

Pictured from left to right: Simon Goldhill, Rahel Jaeggi, Erck Rickmers, Tom Carlson, Shaul Bassi

Humanities & Social Change is establishing and funding an international network of initially four research centres. These include centres at the Humboldt-University zu Berlin, the University of Cambridge, the University of California and Ca` Foscari University of Venice. “I am delighted that we have been able to attract these leading universities and prevail upon such distinguished and internationally renowned scholars and scientists to take over as directors of the four research centres,” said Erck Rickmers.

  • The centre in Berlin, which is headed by Rahel Jaeggi, Professor of Practical Philosophy at the Humboldt-University, will focus on the crisis of capitalism and democracy.
  • Led by Simon Goldhill, Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge, the centre in Cambridge will conduct interdisciplinary research on the impact of technical innovation on society.
  • The centre based at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which is headed by Thomas Carlson, Professor of Philosophy and Religion, will examine the interplay of facts, values and truth at a time when these seem to be of dwindling importance in the public debate.
  • The topic of cultural pluralism in a world of increasing migration and religious conflicts will be the focus of research at the centre in Venice, where the team will be led by Shaul Bassi, Professor of English Literature at Ca‘ Foscari University.

The aim of the foundation and its initiatives is to champion the importance and influence of the humanities and social sciences in public discourse concerning the challenges facing today’s societies. In light of the increasing power of technology in all areas of life, this interdisciplinary approach will create a more intense and productive interconnection between the humanities, the natural sciences and technology.

“In this quest to find constructive solutions, the international scholars will actively seek to engage in direct dialogue with representatives from the world of politics, economics, the media, literature and the arts,” Rickmers said.

Public symposia, lectures, confidential panel discussions and art projects will prove to be ideal platforms for an exchange of ideas with various target groups.

About the Humanities & Social Change International Foundation

The Hamburg-based Humanities & Social Change International Foundation gGmbH (HSC) is a privately financed, independent and non-partisan institution. Its aim is to champion the importance and influence of the humanities and social sciences in public discourse on the challenges facing today’s societies. HSC maintains four international research centres, each with its own thematic focus. These are based at the Humboldt-University of Berlin/Germany, the University of Cambridge/UK, the University of California, Santa Barbara/USA and Ca‘ Foscari University of Venice/Italy. HSC is funding the work of around 40 academics and scholars at these four locations and has allocated an initial budget in the double-Digit million range for a period of five years.

Committed to the guiding principles “Understand – Inspire – Change”, the academic work conducted at the four research centres aims to analyse the underlying causes of societal challenges in the 21st century, encourage the development of new solutions and thus actively shape social change.

 

Erck Rickmers in profile

Erck Rickmers comes from a North German family of entrepreneurs who have been active in shipping, trading and industry since 1834. In 1988, at the age of 24, he set up his own business. Today, his activities in the fields of real estate, corporate equity investments and shipping are managed by E.R. Capital Holding.

From 2011 to 2012 Erck Rickmers was an elected member of the Hamburg State Parliament. He chaired the committee on economics, innovation and media and was a member of both the budget committee and the committee on public enterprise. Rickmers and his family lived in the USA from 2015 to 2017, during which time he completed a graduate programme in Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was awarded a Master of Arts (MA) in the summer of 2017. Rickmers is married to Cristina Sartori, who hails from Bergamo (Northern Italy). The couple has five daughters.

Download press release „Entrepreneur Erck Rickmers sets up international foundation for social Change“ (PDF)
Download high quality photo (JPG, 1MB)

Erck Rickmers and Rahel Jaeggi
HSC Founds a Research Center on Social Change at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 500 300 domonda

HSC Founds a Research Center on Social Change at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

The Center for Humanities and Social Change will be directed by Prof. Dr. Rahel Jaeggi.

On February 27th, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) announces the founding of the Center for Humanities and Social Change. Under the direction of the Humboldt Professor Rahel Jaeggi (Philosophy), the center will examine the crises of democracy and capitalism from a contemporary perspective and in philosophical and basic theoretical terms. The new research center is the product of an initiative of the Hamburg businessman Erck Rickmers and is financed by the Humanities & Social Change International Foundation that he founded. The Foundation has already started other centers at the University of Cambridge, the University of California and the Universitá da Venezia Ca`Foscari. These centers will be connected with one another.

Erck Rickmers and Rahel Jaeggi

Social change is both the object and the aim of the Center’s work. The Center for Humanities and Social Change at the HU pursues a broadly conceived research perspective, drawing on the specific resources of the humanities and social philosophy. Democracy is not understood here purely as a form of government and capitalism is not understood simply as an economic formation. Rather, as networks of social institutions and practices, both are grasped as socio-cultural forms of life. The investigations take crisis-ridden, negative dynamics as their point of departure and thereby look at phenomena like contradictions, evidence of erosion, social pathologies, anomalies, and tensions – within, but also between the economic and political spheres of modern societies. The Center’s work is meant to contribute to the analysis of social processes of transformation and to pose questions on the basis of this analysis, in order to support emancipatory change.

“‘Critical Theory is the theoretical side of the practical process of emancipation.’ This is how Max Horkheimer formulated it in 1937. To this end, one has to analyze the crises of the present day and monitor the tensions tied to the social conflicts of our time, but also the emancipatory hopes they contain. The Center is meant to open a space for debate, in which different perspectives, interpretations, approaches, and proposals meet.” Rahel Jaeggi, Founding Director of the Center for Humanities and Social Change at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

“That this center is coming into being thanks to the generous support of Erck Rickmers is very much to be welcomed. The institute gives us an additional opportunity for better understanding social change and being able to shape it.”

Sabine Kunst, President of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

“I perceive the world as being in a state of crisis: ecologically, economically, politically, culturally, and spiritually. Under the leitmotiv “Understand – Inspire – Change”, the Foundation is meant to analyze the fundamental causes of the social challenges of the 21st century, to inspire new solutions, and thereby to help shape social change in a positive way.” Erck Rickmers, Founder of the Humanities & Social Change International Foundation.

Erck Rickmers and Rahel Jaeggi
Humboldt University in Berlin Founds A Research Center On Social Change 500 300 domonda

Humboldt University in Berlin Founds A Research Center On Social Change

Berlin, 27 February 2018. Under the direction of the Humboldt Professor Rahel Jaeggi (Philosophy), the center will examine the crises of democracy and capitalism from a contemporary perspective and in philosophical and basic theoretical terms.

The new research center is the product of an initiative of the Hamburg businessman Erck Rickmers and is financed by the Humanities & Social Change International Foundation that he founded. The Foundation has already started other centers at the University of Cambridge, the University of California and the Universitá da Venezia Ca`Foscari. These centers will be connected with one another

Erck Rickmers and Rahel Jaeggi

Erck Rickmers (l.) and Rahel Jaeggi

Social change is both the object and the aim of the Center’s work. The Center for Humanities and Social Change at the HU pursues a broadly conceived research perspective, drawing on the specific resources of the humanities and social philosophy. Democracy is not understood here purely as a form of government and capitalism is not understood simply as an economic formation. Rather, as networks of social institutions and practices, both are grasped as socio-cultural forms of life. The investigations take crisis-ridden, negative dynamics as their point of departure and thereby look at phenomena like contradictions, evidence of erosion, social pathologies, anomalies, and tensions – within, but also between the economic and political spheres of modern societies. The Center’s work is meant to contribute to the analysis of social processes of transformation and to pose questions on the basis of this analysis, in order to support emancipatory change.

“‘Critical Theory is the theoretical side of the practical process of emancipation.’ This is how Max Horkheimer formulated it in 1937. To this end, one has to analyze the crises of the present day and monitor the tensions tied to the social conflicts of our time, but also the emancipatory hopes they contain. The Center is meant to open a space for debate, in which different perspectives, interpretations, approaches, and proposals meet.”

Rahel Jaeggi, Founding Director of the Center for Humanities and Social Change at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

“‘Critical Theory is the theoretical side of the practical process of emancipation.’ This is how Max Horkheimer formulated it in 1937. To this end, one has to analyze the crises of the present day and monitor the tensions tied to the social conflicts of our time, but also the emancipatory hopes they contain. The Center is meant to open a space for debate, in which different perspectives, interpretations, approaches, and proposals meet.”

Sabine Kunst, President of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

“I perceive the world as being in a state of crisis: ecologically, economically, politically, culturally, and spiritually. Under the leitmotiv “Understand – Inspire – Change”, the Foundation is meant to analyze the fundamental causes of the social challenges of the 21st century, to inspire new solutions, and thereby to help shape social change in a positive way.”

Erck Rickmers, Founder of the Humanities & Social Change International Foundation.

For additional information
www.hscif.org

Contact

Prof. Dr. Rahel Jaeggi

Department of Philosophy and Center for Humanities and Social Change
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
Tel.: 030 2093-2146
rahel.jaeggi@staff.hu-berlin.de

Contact

Hans-Christoph Keller
Spokesperson of the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
Head of the Press and Public Relations Office
Tel.: 030 2093-2332
hans-christoph.keller@hu-berlin.de

CA’ Foscari ‘Task Force’ Studies Global Changes – The First Humanities & Social Change Centre in Venice 1024 576 domonda

CA’ Foscari ‘Task Force’ Studies Global Changes – The First Humanities & Social Change Centre in Venice

Erck Rickmers donated more than €1 million to the University for the project in which 20 researchers from Ca’ Foscari will be involved over the next three years.

VENICE – 17 May 2017. The International Centre for Humanities and Social Change was founded in Venice in 2017. It was established on the initiative of the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the Humanities and Social Change International Foundation in order to start a research programme on the effects of globalisation on contemporary society.

Over the next three years, 20 Ca’ Foscari researchers will study global changes and inequality, analyse social and religious conflicts, and will examine their impact on all aspects of society. A multi-disciplinary project, in which humanistic culture plays a strategic role when it comes to facing our current challenges.

The International Centre for Humanities and Social Change is the first centre of an international network that will involve prestigious universities from all over the world and will connect scholars from different fields.

The aim of the Centre is to create and develop a multi-disciplinary research programme in human and social sciences, to establish dialogue with other art, science and technology sectors, as well as experts in the field of work, media and information, politics and other stakeholders. The aim is to help to find answers to the most relevant and pressing issues of contemporary society and its technological, cultural and economic development, and to provide recommendations and solutions for political decision-makers.

The Centre was founded with the support of Erck Rickmers, Chairman of the Humanities and Social Change International Foundation, who donated €1,125,000 to Ca’ Foscari for the first three years of the project.

Rector of Ca’ Foscari, Michele Bugliesi: «Ca’ Foscari is a strong believer in this project which, thanks to the support of the HSC Foundation, will employ twenty professors, researchers, locals and PhD students, who will address key topical issues, working in teams and collaborating with other scholars from all over the world. Venice becomes the centre of scientific work that will investigate our current social problems and cultural changes. I would like to thank Erck Rickmers for choosing to support the Ca’ Foscari project in the city of Venice.“

„In view of the growing social and political challenges that we are faced with all over the world, I would like to enhance the participation of the humanities in public debate. The economy now appears to have a predominant influence over our society. However, we still need a more holistic approach to resolving contemporary global problems. Having spent much time in Venice, I am delighted to support this capital city of culture and its renowned Ca’ Foscari University.“

– Erck Rickmers, Chairman of the Humanities and Social Change International Foundation

The Centre’s scientific committee is composed of the following members: Shaul Bassi (Director), Sabrina Marchetti, Tiziana Lippiello and Massimo Warglien.

Ca’ Foscari University of Venice Communication Office:
Federica Ferrarin: Tel. 041 2348118 – 366 6297904 – 335 5472229
Enrico Costa: Tel. 041 2348004 – 347 8728096
Paola Vescovi: Tel. 041 2348005 – 366 6279602 – 339 1744126
Federica Scotellaro: Tel. 041 2348113 – 366 6297906
E-mail comunica@unive.it

Ca’ Foscari news: news.unive.itn

Download press release „Ca’ foscari ‘task force’ studies global changes“ (PDF)

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