Waseda University’s Global Asia Research Center Online Seminar Series

COVID-19 and Socio-ecological Transition

Autumn and Winter Quarters, 2020
 

Coordinated by Dr. Yoshihiro Nakano & Prof. Shukuko Koyama
Concept:

Since the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit socio-economic foundations of human life, revealing the precarious nature of the globalized world. However, the crisis we are facing today is not entirely new. Its conditions have been first and foremost nurtured by the globalization of the industrial mode of production promoting rapid urbanization, environmental pollution and acceleration of mobilities. Four decades of neoliberalism exacerbated the situation, transforming the multidimensionality of social ontology to a simple market relationship and thus deepening inequalities and social division in both the Global North and the Global South. To imagine a sustainable future after COVID-19, it is of the utmost necessity to discuss the construction of a post-neoliberal world that buttresses innovative socio-ecological transition. This online seminar series invites critical social theorists and researchers from different parts of the world and discusses a possible vision of post-COVID/post-neoliberal world, exploring strategies of socio-ecological transition that can be gleaned from concrete social realities.

 

Program:
1. The Case for Degrowth in a Time of Pandemic
Speaker: Giacomo D’Alisa (FCT post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Social Studies,
University of Coimbra, Portugal)
Date & time: September 28 (Mon) 2020, 18:00 (Japan Time)/11: 00 (Barcelona Time)
Registration deadline: September 24 (Thu)

2. Reinventing Concrete Alternatives: Commons and Solidarity Economy
Speaker: Jean-Louis Laville (Professor of Economic Sociology, Conservatoire national
des arts et métiers (CNAM), France)
Date & time: October 12 (Mon) 2020, 17:00 (Japan Time)/10:00 (Paris Time)
Registration deadline: October 8 (Thu)

3. Fight for Migrant Rights! The impact of COVID-19 for refugees and migrants in the UK
and Europe
Speaker: Vicki Squire (Professor of International Politics, Warwick University, UK)
Date & time: October 19 (Mon) 2020, 18:00 (Japan Time)/ 10:00 (UK Time)
Registration deadline: October 15 (Thu)

4. Sustainability and Happiness: Imagining a Post-growth Economy in a Time of Pandemic
Speaker: Stefano Bartolini (Associate Professor of Economics, the University of Siena,
Italy)
Date & time: November 4 (Wed) 2020, 18:00 (Japan Time)/10:00 (Firenze Time)
Registration deadline: October 30 (Fri)

5. Reclaiming the Public Service: On the Trend of Remunicipalization in Europe
Speaker: Satoko Kishimoto (Researcher, Transnational Institute, the Netherland)
Date & time: November 16 (Mon) 2020, 18:00 (Japan Time) /10:00 (Amsterdam Time)
Registration deadline: November 12 (Thu)

6. The rise and fall of advanced capitalist societies. Complexity and diminishing returns in comparative perspective (USA, Europe and Japan, 1770- 2019)
Speaker: Mauro Bonaiuti (Professor of Economics, University of Turin, Italy)
Date & time: December 14 (Mon), 18:00 (Japan Time)/ 10:00 (Torino Time)
Registration deadline: December 10 (Thu)

Duration of each seminar: about 90 minutes (including presentation and discussion)
Language: English

Event Program in English

Event Program in Japanese (日本語)

How to participate:

Please send your e-mail message to: globalasia.socioeco.transition[at]gmail.com
Alternatively register via Google form

Once registered, you will receive the online meeting URL (Zoom) by the day before.
Registration fee: Free

About coordinators:
Dr. Yoshihiro Nakano is a specialist in social philosophy and history of global development. His recent research interests are global history of transition design and epistemologies of the
South. For detail, visit his website: http://postcapitalism.jp/index/english/

Prof. Shukuko Koyama is a specialist in international security and conflict resolution. Her recent research interests include the role of political theater and social innovation in the postconflict transition in Georgia.

About Global Asia Research Center:
The Global Asia Research Center at Waseda University is a research institute that promotes a global interdisciplinary scholarship on reconciliation and sustainable development and to
disseminate its results from Asia to the world. We pursue our research through the dual perspective of global history and global governance, integrating three spheres of knowledge: peace and security, economics and development, and society and culture. For details, visit our website: https://www.waseda.jp/global-asia/

Note:
All rights reserved. Reproducing all or any part of this seminar series is prohibited without the permission of Waseda University.