Blog

The spread of coronavirus since early 2020 has put many of us at home. Suddenly, the streams of bustling mobility across the globe have stopped. In this blog post, Ayham Dalal reflects on how transportation and mobility re-figured the world. Tracing their impact in the formation of unequal and asymmetric geographies, he puts two less-visible worlds in conversation with each other: “overly connected” and “overly isolated” ones. Using his personal experience of transiting between both, the article aims to show how the global growth and expansion of mobility networks privileged some and hindered others, thus producing unequal geographies and distorted imaginaries. In this historical moment, the article addresses the impact of extensive mobility on the re-figuration of spaces and urges to revisit the potentials of dwelling as counter-practice for a more just and livable future.

Covid19 takes a toll on everyone's life and routines, affecting the vulnerable and (to a lesser extent) even the privileged who always got around disasters in one way or another. At the level of everyday life, the spatial and temporal patterns of movement are changing, forming in their own way a pandemic choreography that reflects the societal conditions under Corona. This post by Martin Schinagl maps and reflects on these changes.

While the corona pandemic is spreading globally transgressing all borders, territories are being closed down in a radical way. And while on the one hand we are trying to convert our private and professional social relations to digital media communication, we find ourselves largely limited by the regulations of our governments to the living spaces of our households and the most minimal social contact (without closing them completely).

Using the concept of refiguration, Hubert Knoblauch and Martina Löw are initiating a first analysis of communicative action at times of corona pandemic.

From October 2019 till February 2020 Letteria G. Fassari was Visiting Fellow at the Collaborative Research Centre 1265. In this interview conducted at the end of her stay, she gives insights into her time at the CRC and her impressions of the city of Berlin.

As Shmuel Eisenstadt notes in his work Japanese Civilization, the Land of the Rising Sun has a special attraction for comparative sociology. For Japanese society combines an - from a Western point of view - exotic culture and a highly technological civilization that has made and continues to make its own way into modernity.

Martin Schinagl reflektiert im Nachgang seiner Feldforschung über Stadtplanung in New York City über eine Stadt der Widersprüche und Extreme sowie ihre Entwicklungen aus Perspektive eines forschenden Flâneurs: „Läufst du durch New York, siehst du die Welt. …“

The first summer school of the integrated research training group of the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1265, titled “Spaces of Hope. Critical Perspectives on Spatial (Trans)Formations” took place in Berlin from the 11th to the 13th of September 2019 and brought together young researchers from all over the world. The following report gives a brief insight about the activities and research topics addressed during the summer school.