Thursday, 2 July 2020

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Editorial

Are non-European experiences relevant for a country like Germany in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic? Has one of the specificities of this pandemic not been that it plays out in the (hyper)urban centers of the world, where generations still live close together in contrast to Germany where 42 per cent of the households are single ones and another 34 per cent are two-person households?

ZMO has been looking for reactions and responses towards the unfolding crises from colleagues and friends in our wide network. Though we knew that it would be difficult to receive critical reflections on local provisions from countries like Egypt or Saudi Arabia (and we did not want to put anybody in danger), the exchange about experiences outside of Europe has been much greater than we initially envisaged. We also received numerous contributions from the regions. This is our third Newsletter with contributions about the pandemic and you can find ZMO’s complete Thematic Dossier here.
 
Dealing with the pandemic has motivated scholars from all disciplines all over the world to test their previous assumptions of modernity, the post-industrial age, globalization, climate change and of course also from the life sciences. Many colleagues moreover felt the urge to write about a new, intergenerational work-life balance, possibly gendered along timeworn patterns. Societies that had managed to factor death out, could no longer close their eyes towards the situation of both: the elderly and “their" nursing staff.

Experiences from India, Kenya, Panama, or Niger have made it very clear that the question of hunger posed itself from Day 1 of the lockdown. I found it striking that it took four months after the discovery of the pneumopathy, till European and US-American media discovered the topic of global hunger. Based on data representing 90 per cent of global employment, the International Labour Organisation estimated at the end of May 2020, that 77 per cent of the workers aged between 15 and 24 as well as around 60 per cent of adult workers (aged 25 and above) are in informal jobs. It thus comes as no surprise that we could find messages from the Global South pointing to the dramatic downside of the global shutdown right from the start. Day labourers have no savings, no state safety net and often only informal access to public health. It would have been helpful for us to pay attention early on to those aspects which are now slowly becoming key references in the public debate via writers, activists, and academics.

Global hunger is a plague that scientists had hoped to have overcome by 2030. Now, the number of those suffering from hunger might double by the end of the year, with South Asia having the steepest rise. In China formerly forbidden street vendors are now allowed into the public space in order to stimulate the economy. Are non-European experiences relevant for Germany? Yes, because politicians can be made aware of vital elements for their post-corona strategies: Rethinking global food production and supply urgently needs to be prioritized.

Sonja Hegasy, ZMO Vice Director, Knowledge Transfe

Latest contributions to the Corona Dossier:

14 June, Berlin, Germany

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Juliane Schumacher writes about many first times over the last weeks after the lockdown measures in Berlin were eased: Swimming in the lake, sitting in a Café, taking public transport to work. But the lockdown left its traces. 

 Lockdown Journal, 14 June 2020

 

 



#VitrinesEnConfinement

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The sociologist Sarah Gensburger (CNRS) and a group of others have initiated a site to collect messages in public space in the times of Corona. You might want to browse through the map or join and upload yourself.

Photo: Sonja Hegasy

 


حول الدوال الأُسِّية والعودة للوضع الطبيعي

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Mada Masr published Samuli Schielke's blog article on labour, economy and justice in Arabic.
English Version here

 

 

 

„Zehntausende Tote“

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Ulrike Freitag spricht im Interview mit Jannis Hagmann über Cholera, Quarantäne und imperiale Hygienepolitik während der Pilgerfahrt nach Mekka in der Vergangenheit.

taz, 31 May 2020

 

Beiratsmitglied Charlotte Wiedemann schreibt zur Kolonialismus-Debatte

Das Ende weißer Immunität

Charlotte Wiedemann, Journalistin und seit 2020 Mitglied im wissenschaftlichen Beirat des ZMO, schreibt in der taz über den Umgang mit Kolonialismus und Denkmälern. Sie plädiert für Reparationen und einen neuen Internationalismus.

 

 

 

Tenders & Calls

Position as assistant to the director (m/f/div) at ZMO

Start: September 2020
Please submit your application until 5 July 2020.

Position of a postdoctoral research fellow (m/f/div) for the ERC project "Timely Histories: A Social History of Time in South Asia" (TIMEHIST); Unit: "time in early modern period"

Start: January 2021
Please submit your application until 30 July 2020.

Position of a postdoctoral research fellow (m/f/div) for the ERC project "Timely Histories: A Social History of Time in South Asia" (TIMEHIST); Unit: "work and time"

Start: January 2021
Please submit your application until 30 July 2020.

Position of a doctoral research fellow (m/f/div) for the ERC project "Timely Histories: A Social History of Time in South Asia" (TIMEHIST); Unit: "time of the future"

Start: January 2021
Please submit your application until 10 August 2020.

Position of a doctoral research fellow (m/f/div) for the ERC project "Timely Histories: A Social History of Time in South Asia" (TIMEHIST); Unit: "technological time: delay and wait"

Start: January 2021
Please submit your application until 10 August 2020.

ZMO in the Media

Saudi-Arabien: Dschidda - ein Hauch von Liberalität schon in früherer Zeit

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Rezension von Ulrike Freitags Buch "A History of Jeddah. The Gate to Mecca in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century".

Kersten Knipp, Deutsche Welle, 13 June 2020 

 

 

Alumni News

German, Jew, Muslim, Gay. The Life and Times of Hugo Marcus

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Latest monograph by Marc David Baer, who was a research fellow at ZMO between 2009 and 2014.

 

 

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