The conference "Crisis Narratives and the Pandemic" will take place at the University of Regensburg – and online – from 19-21 May 2022. It aims to examine from an area studies perspective the variety of crisis narratives that have accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic.It is organized by the Center for International and Transnational Area Studies (CITAS) at the University of Regensburg (UR) and the Leibniz ScienceCampus Europe and America, a joint initiative of UR and the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS).
The conference aims to examine from an area studies perspective the variety of crisis narratives that have accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic. The postmodern age has been marked by a sense that narratives struggle to make sense of the world, especially as economic, ecological and now military and pandemic crises are of a global or indeed planetary scale that manages to disrupt even ‘grand narratives’. Hence, there are not only narratives of crisis but narrative itself seems to be experiencing crisis. What the contributors to this event aim to explore, however, is whether the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in further fragmentation of narratives, as well as deepening spatial, social and cultural divides, or whether we might be witnessing the emergence of new senses of shared meaning as the current conjunction of crises engenders significant regional, global and planetary reconfigurations.
Drawing on a multi-scalar perspective, the worldwide pandemic acts as a starting point for a global discussion of crisis narratives alongside their space-bound particularities, as well as their family resemblances. We look to understand how the various pandemic narratives affect the formation (or dissolution) of global, national and community solidarities and divisions. Could the pandemic crisis be the source not only of further global and regional frictions, but also a productive moment for a revival of global collaborations across multiple scales and actors?
The event considers connections between narrative and spatialization, thus exploring how particular narratives of the pandemic configure, divide, delineate, or expand crisis spaces. Do narratives cross or draw boundaries, for example between nations or large- and small-scale regions? How do the spaces of the pandemic crisis relate to other crisis spaces and their determinants, such as poverty, socio-economic standing, development, and (medical) infrastructure? The contributions examine how pandemic narratives interact with, bring forth, or indeed push back and repress narratives relating to other ongoing and/or parallel crises in particular regions, across a broad geographic scope.
The keynote lectureat 16:15 (CET) on 19 May is open to all. The speakers, Kristen Ghodsee and Mitchell Orenstein (University of Pennsylvania), will be presenting their talk – “Taking Stock of Shock: Social Consequences of the 1989 Revolutions” – online although there will be a public viewing in lecture theatre H44 at UR. If you would like to attend the conference panels – whether in person or online – please register at info@europeamerica.de.
CITAS Executive Board Members
https://www.uni-regensburg.de/citas/english/structure/index.html
Board of Directors Leibniz ScienceCampus Europe and America in the Modern World
https://europeamerica.de/people/board-of-directors.html
https://www.europeamerica.de/news-and-events/crna22-conference.html
https://europeamerica.de/news-and-events/detail/conference-keynote-lecture-serie...
http://E-Mail: info@europeamerica.de
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