The Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context” welcomes applications for its Summer School 2014 “Politics of Near Futures: Possibilities, Prophecies, Prognoses.” It will take place from July 27 to 31, 2014, at Heidelberg University in Germany.

This year’s Summer School will explore historical and contemporary ways of making sense of the future and bringing ideas of worlds-to-come into the spheres of politics, science and cultural production. As the world of the 21st Century is shaking at all ends, deliberations about humanity's possible near futures have regained heightened urgency and importance across the registers of politics, science and religion. The Summer School will study transcultural ideas of human and non-human near futures. That is, futures that are imagined by narrating contemporary potentialities into the future: As prophecy, estimate, prognosis, demographic planning, extrapolation or statistical calculation.

The Summer School addresses graduate students in humanities and social sciences with an interest in transcultural ideas of the end of times and ideas of possible futures. It is designed as an academic programme, which combines insights in the research of renowned experts in the form of lectures with discussions with fellow participants. The invited scholars represent a wide range of backgrounds and share an interest in engaging in critical dialogue across regional and disciplinary boundaries. The confirmed speakers include Michel Garenne (Institut Pasteur, Paris), Jennie Chapman (University of Hull), Eben Kirksey (University of New South Wales) and from Heidelberg University Anthony Santoro, Sophie Roche, Katja Rakow, Kerstin von Lingen and Daniel Münster.
In addition to the academic program, a range of excursions and leisure activities in and around the city of Heidelberg will be offered.

The application form can be found on our website and is to be sent together with a letter of motivation by May 31. For more information see http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/summerschool/.