18:00 - 20:00
UNI:Local, Kassel, Germany 34117
Militarization is called, Aligning state and society with the needs of the military. Universities and research institutions not only observe and comment on such developments. In the face of multiple crises, the global rise of neo-imperial and illiberal policies as well as the multiplication and intensification of threat perceptions, they are currently being affected by these dynamics themselves. As public and, in Germany, mostly state institutions, they are confronted with expectations, to support government efforts to improve national defense capability. The idea of the university as critical observation- and reflection authority on social developments is coming under increasing pressure. This situation draws attention to the ambivalence of the university, a place to be, in which power interests are articulated, and at the same time a place, where power is criticized and undermined.
The lecture aims to shed light on this constellation from a conflict-sociological perspective. He will explain, why academic work on pacifism and antimilitarism in democratic societies is particularly important in times of rearmament and militarization. He will also analyze, how changing forms of warfare present new challenges to this work. These changes include the growing importance of datafication and digital technologies, that turn everyday life into a primary arena for interstate wars, or the increasing entanglement from outside- and domestic political conflict situations, which also blurs the boundaries between military and police tasks. With these developments, important structural features change, which were formative for large parts of antimilitarist and pacifist thinking. How can these traditions react to the changes in war events described??
Teresa Koloma Beck researches everyday life and globalization in war- and crisis contexts, with a particular interest in contemporary colonial and imperial history. She is a professor of sociology at the Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Bundeswehr Hamburg.
Moderation: Johanna Schaffer + Primer Prenici (teachers + Visual communication students / Kunsthochschule Kassel (Art School))