More than Just a Financial Crisis
Concluding Conference of Einstein Visiting Fellow Nancy Fraser on November 4 and 5 in Berlin to Deal with Concept of Crisis / Interview Opportunity on November 4 at 7 p.m.
№ 365/2014 from Oct 21, 2014
How has the financial crisis promoted economic, ecological, and political developments? How can we achieve a comprehensive, multidimensional understanding of the current crisis? These issues will be addressed at a conference concluding the term of Einstein Visiting Fellow Nancy Fraser on November 4 and 5 in Berlin. The conference participants will be a distinguished group of international scholars. The meeting marks the end of four years of research by the American political scientist at Freie Universität. Nancy Fraser of the New School for Social Research in New York has been an Einstein Visiting Fellow since 2011. In this capacity she heads a four-member working group at the Graduate School of North American Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. The conference is being held in the Supermarkt conference center in Berlin-Mitte. There is no charge to participate, but advance registration is requested; see details here: berlincrisis.info.
Although the global crisis is far more than a mere financial and economic crisis, most currently discussed explanations relate primarily to economic factors. However, other factors, such as global warming or the erosion of political power of states or alliances, also play an important role. The aim of the conference "Rethinking Capitalist Crisis: Ecology - Society - Democracy" is to develop a critical theory of the crisis that integrates the various crisis phenomena of capitalist society. The participating social and political scientists will be discussing the various factors and develop prospects for emancipatory solutions.
Nancy Fraser is one of the most influential intellectuals of our time. Her work on social and political theory, the history of ideas of the 19th and 20th centuries, feminist theory, and issues relating to the political conditions of social and cultural recognition has shaped the debate on the normative foundations of democracy in modern societies. At the Graduate School for North American Studies at the John F. Kennedy Institute of Freie Universität Berlin, Fraser built up a working group consisting of four early career researchers. The group investigates the crisis of democracy. Fraser's research provided an important impetus for the research agenda of the graduate school, which deals with current crises in the United States and the way they are being handled, as well as the proneness and vulnerability of the democratic system to crisis in general. The research project will be concluded in December 2014.
Through the Einstein Visiting Fellow Program, the Einstein Foundation Berlin supports high-profile international scholars whose expertise complements a specific area of outstanding scholarship in the Berlin research community. Each Einstein Fellow has an annual budget of up to 150,000 euros for setting up a working group and to work on joint projects with the various universities in Berlin.
Time and Location
- Tuesday, November 4, 2014, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Wednesday, November 5, 2014, 10 a.m.to 6 p.m.
- Supermarkt Conference Center, Brunnenstraße 64, 13355 Berlin; subway station: Voltastraße (U8).
Conference Program and Advance Registration
Further Information
- Dr. Nina Diezemann, Office of News and Public Affairs, Freie Universität Berlin, Tel.: +49 30 838-73190, Email: nina.diezemann@fu-berlin.de
- Christian Martin, Einstein Foundation Berlin, Communication and Development, Tel.: +49 30 20370 248, Email: cm@einsteinfoundation.de
- Dr. Ethan Miller, Spokesperson for the Nancy Fraser Einstein Visiting Fellowship Postdoc Group, Tel.: +49 30 838-52865, Email: mail@berlincrisis.info