After the Crisis as Before the (Next) Crisis?

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year and a half has had far-reaching effects on everyday realities of life and daily routines, relationships and needs. The pandemic has magnified existing inequalities and structural discrimination. Experiences of solidarity and isolation, of calm and nervousness, of exclusion and support were unequally distributed in society. Also contributing to growing discrepancies within societies is the fact our daily lives have been heavily shaped by the accelerated digital transformation. This talk brings together Marylyn Martina Addo, Mohamed Amjahid, María do Mar Castro Varela and Julia Grosse to discuss these issues with a view to the future and the conditions needed to redress the balance.

Marylyn Martina Addo is a Professor in Medicine, an Infectious Diseases Specialist and researcher. She heads the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and is a scientist at the German Center for Infection Research. Her research focuses on the development of vaccines against emerging viral diseases, currently with a particular focus on the study of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Mohamed Amjahid is a freelance journalist based in Berlin. He focuses anthropologically and journalistically on topics such as human rights, equality and upheavals in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Amjahid is the author of a number of books including Der weiße Fleck: Eine Anleitung zu antirassistischem Denken (2021).

María do Mar Castro Varela is a graduate psychologist, graduate pedagogue and doctor of political science, as well as professor of general education and social work at the Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin. Her work focuses on gender and queer studies, postcolonial theory, critical migration studies and education studies, conspiracy theories and trauma studies.

Julia Grosse (moderator) is co-founder and artistic director of Contemporary And (C&) and Associate Curator at the Gropius Bau. She is a lecturer at the Institute for Art in Context at the University of the Arts in Berlin. In 2020 (together with Yvette Mutumba) she was winner of the prize “European Cultural Manager of the Year”.