Summer School: How We Imagine the Future

An international summer school, angled at advanced students and doctoral candidates in the humanities, cultural studies and social sciences, is organised by Heidelberg University’s Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context”. At the heart of the five-day event is the question of how we imagine the future and how we come to terms with the scenarios proposed for times to come. With renowned researchers from Germany and abroad the participants will have the opportunity to discuss current prognoses for the future and end-of-the-world scenarios from the past. The deadline for applications to attend the summer school “Politics of Near Futures: Possibilities, Prophecies, Prognoses” is 31 May 2014.

The programme of the summer school encompasses lectures and discussion sessions on a variety of central issues, for example the Apocalypse, a “classical” notion in many religions. Students and doctoral candidates will engage with historical visions of the future and inquire into the crucial factors featuring in present-day scenarios for times to come. Prominent topics in the discussion will be demographic forecasts and climate change. The summer school at Heidelberg University lasts from 28 to 31 July 2014 and is organised by junior research group leaders Dr. Kerstin von Lingen, Dr. Daniel Münster, Dr. Katja Rakow and Dr. Sophie Roche. A public lecture will be held by the Indian-American anthropologist Prof. Dr. Akhil Gupta of the University of California in Los Angeles.