Tuesday, November 20th, 2018,
University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, Aula, KOL-G-201

Professor Andreas Rödder

Professor of Modern History at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Distortions of the present:
The crises of the twenty-first century in historical perspective

While a quarter of a century ago it seemed the ‘end of history’ had arrived, now there are fears for the end of the West. International crises and violence, unpredictable technological advances, and a feeling of acceleration without any direction: These developments of the present recall the time before 1914: After all, many things that appear to be new to the twenty-first century were actually experienced by people back in the nineteenth century, too, and with exactly the same feeling of existential uncertainty. How did they deal with these things? And what can it tell us for our present?

Special event with the SIAF Award ceremony.

The lecture is open to the public. No advance booking required. No seat reservation possible.*

Curriculum vitae

Andreas Rödder, born in 1967 in Wissen (Sieg, Germany) is a university professor for contemporary history at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. He was a fellow at the Historisches Kolleg in Munich and a visiting professor at Brandeis University as well as London School Economics. Rödder has written six major books, including ‘Deutschland einig Vaterland. Die Geschichte der Wiedervereinigung’ (‘Germany, united fatherland. The history of reunification.’, 2009), ‘21.0. Eine kurze Geschichte der Gegenwart’ (‘21.0. A brief history of the present’, 2015), and ‘Wer hat Angst vor Deutschland? Geschichte eines europäischen Problems’ (‘Who’s afraid of Germany? History of a European problem’, 2018). He also pointedly takes a stand on socio-political issues.