CAPAS 
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News
Articles and Announcements
Heidelberg, 30 January 2022
CAPAS in the News
Droht das Ende der Welt? Oberbayer erforscht als Professor die Apokalypse (Impending end of the world? Man from Upper Bavaria researches the Apocalypse as a Professor)
Corona, steigende Flüchtlingszahlen, eine galoppierende Inflation, der Klimawandel und Krieg in Europa bedrohen die Menschen. Immer häufiger ist im öffentlichen Diskurs von einer Apokalypse zu hören. Doch was ist das tatsächlich - eine Apokalypse? Der Historiker und Apokalypse-Forscher Thomas Meier, der in Reichertshausen lebt, hat neben mehreren Warnungen auch eine beruhigende Botschaft. Ein Gespräch über geschichtliche Parallelen zu Corona, die Botschaft von Weltuntergangsfilmen und die Katastrophenrhetorik von Politikern.
Full Article (External link, German only)
A short conversation with Philipp Schrögel in the radio programme of Deutschlandfunk Kultur on the occasion of the annual setting of the Doomsday Clock by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Weltuntergang. Schon wieder – Warum uns die Apokalypse so fasziniert.
Audio Recording (External link, German only)
Heidelberg, 15 December 2021
CAPAS in the News
Endzeit-Szenarien im Film – Was tun, wenn die Welt untergeht? (End Times Scenarios in Movies – What to do when the world ends?)
Globale Katastrophen und Endzeit-Szenarien sind ein häufiges Thema in Filmen. Das Käte-Hamburger-Kolleg für Apokalyptische Studien organisiert zu diesem Thema eine Filmreihe.
Full Article (External link, German only)
German press agency dpa released an article on the pandemic, climate change, apocalypticism and psychological effects, including statements by CAPAS. The release has been picked up by several news outlets in Germany, for example here by RND:
Von Corona bis Klimawandel: Was gegen Ängste und Weltuntergangsstimmung hilft.
Die Corona-Pandemie und der Klimawandel lösen weltweit Angst aus. Die Weltuntergangsstimmung ist Forschenden zufolge jedoch kein neues Phänomen. In Krisenzeiten sind Gemeinschaft und Solidarität gute Mittel gegen Ängste, betont ein Psychiater.
Full Article (External link, German only)
Heidelberg, 1 December 2021
New Project at CAPAS together with Newcastle University
Devastation, Dislocation and (Re)Settlement. Breaking/Replacing the People-Place-Connection in Landscape
Together with Prof. Sam Turner and Dr. Graham Fairclough from the McCord Centre for Landscape at Newcastle University (UK) Thomas Meier has received funding for a new research project on "Devastation, Dislocation and (Re)Settlement. Breaking/Replacing the People-Place-Connection in Landscape".
The project will explore the social and cultural impact of the rapid and fundamental devastation of a landscape. Using a broad understanding of ‘landscape’ as a societal seat of people’s identity and connection with their environment (which foregrounds the role of perception in the construction of landscape), it will research the landscape impact of deliberate human actions, exemplified by war and social domination, rather than destruction caused by ‘natural’ events, nor on the transformations of landscape caused by very long-term processes.
Read more...
Heidelberg, 20 October 2021
CAPAS in the News
Our official inauguration with the inaugural lecture by Slavoj Žižek has been covered by several reports in the German press:
"Die neue Angst vor dem Weltuntergang: Kolleg in Heidelberg untersucht Vorstellungen der Apokalypse"
(SWR 2, 14.10.2021)
Further articles (also in German):
Heidelberger Wissenschaftler: „Corona ist eine Art Apokalypse“
(Badische Neueste Nachrichten, 09.10.2021)
"In Heidelberg forschen jetzt Geisteswissenschaftler aus aller Welt zu deren Ende. Dort gibt es ein „Kolleg für Apokalyptische und Postapokalyptische Studien“. Philipp Schrögel ist einer von ihnen. Auch die Corona-Pandemie hat ihn bei seiner Forschung beschäftigt."
weiterlesen... (Paywall)
Wissenschaftler erforschen Endzeit-Szenarien
(Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, 13.10.2021)
"Neues Kolleg für Apokalyptische und Postapokalyptische Studien wird eröffnet. Das Kolleg hat auch öffentliche Veranstaltungen geplant. So kommt am Donnerstag Slavoj Žižek nach Heidelberg. Hierzu gibt es einen Gratis-Livestream."
Weltuntergang – Neues Kolleg für „Apokalyptische Studien“ in Heidelberg
(Deutschlandfunk, 15.10.2021)
Das Leben nach der Apokalypse
(Rheinpfalz, 16.10.2021)
An der Universität Heidelberg hat sich ein Kolleg für Apokalyptische und Postapokalyptische Studien gegründet. Zur Eröffnung sprach der Starphilosoph Slavoj Žižek.
weiterlesen... (Paywall)
Heidelberg, 11 October 2021
Newsletter No.1 Released
We are happy to present the first CAPAS newsletter and wish you an interesting and inspiring read!
Heidelberg, 7 September 2021
Call for Submissions
Annual Conference, 29-30 April 2022
CAPAS invites calls for individual paper and panel proposals to be included in our annual conference on "Worlds ending - Ending worlds?", 29-30 April 2022.
Deadline: 15 October 2021
Heidelberg, 9 August 2021
Call for Applications
Fellowships at the Käte Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies (CAPAS) 2022-23
CAPAS invites applications for up to 10 Fellowships from September/October 2022 for the 2022-2023 academic year (beginning date is negotiable). The focus of the 2022-2023 academic year is on the imaginaries and concepts of the (post-)apocalypse, with special regard to Europe and the Americas. The aim is to explore the imaginary of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic worlds in a transcultural and transdisciplinary perspective. Proposals regarding the theoretical or methodological frame of CAPAS and on inter- and transdisciplinary approaches are also welcome.
Deadline: 12 September 2021
Read more...
Heidelberg, 2 August 2021
Call for Papers
Thinking with the End(s) of Worlds
Apocalyptica is an interdisciplinary, international, double-blind peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Käte Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies (CAPAS) at Heidelberg University. The journal publishes incisive analyses and diverse perspectives regarding the end of worlds.
We are seeking submissions that actively explore the apocalypse as a forceful figure of thought in order to grapple with the historical experiences, present confrontations, and future possibilities of (up)ending worlds.
Article length: 8,000-9,000 words
Deadline: 15 November 2021
Read more...
Bonus: Video for the call for papers:
Heidelberg, 7 May 2021
CAPAS in the News
BMBF Special on the new Käte Hamburger Centres
The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), which is funding our Käte Hamburger Centre, has interviewed our two directors about their expectations, plans for the following years and their personal perspectives on the start of the Centre:
Full Interview (External link, German only)
Spektrum interview on the apocalypse
The German science magazine Spektrum has interviewed Professor Robert Folger, asking him what defines an apocalypse, if the Covid-19 pandemic can be considered one and, to begin with, how he as a romanicist came to researching the (post-) apocalypse:
Full Interview (External link, German only)
Heidelberg, 3 May 2021
Apocalypse now, then when?
CAPAS Online Lecture Series 2021
The Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies at the University of Heidelberg (CAPAS) announces with great pleasure the start of a new lecture series. The CAPAS lecture series undertakes the task of exploring imaginaries and experiences of apocalypses and post-apocalypses from an interdisciplinary perspective.
With this format, the research at CAPAS is made accessible to members of Heidelberg University and the interested public. We cordially invite you to engage in our interdisciplinary discussions. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the lectures will be held digitally.
Heidelberg, 1 April 1, 2021
Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies
A new Käte Hamburger International Centre starts work at Heidelberg University
Press Release of Heidelberg University – No. 27/2021
The cross-cultural phenomenon of predicting the end of the world, in particular in view of current global threats, is the focus of a new transdisciplinary research institution at Heidelberg University. A Käte Hamburger International Centre – the Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies (CAPAS) – has begun work with funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). To spotlight its topics, CAPAS will invite scholars from all over the world to spend time in Heidelberg doing research. The BMBF has allocated approx. nine million euros to finance the centre over an initial period of four years. CAPAS directors are Prof. Dr Robert Folger, representing Romance languages, and Prof. Dr Thomas Meier, an archaeologist.
