Focal Points

With new variants mutating around the globe, COVID-19 is no longer a novelty. The pathogen is seemingly here to stay, inducing social, political and economic turmoil. This is not a crisis to emerge from quickly. It is a prelude to further emergencies linked to climate change-related transformations and environmental destruction. How will societies deal with its tangible effects? And which issues might be perilously left by the wayside? In this new focal point, supported by the European Cultural Foundation’s Culture of Solidarity programme, Eurozine and partners take stock of this public health crisis and its accompanying crises of values and meaning.

The 20th century model of education promised a path for talent to rise through the ranks and for everyone else to find their place in society on the labour markets. But decades of research have confirmed what many found through their own experiences: that this promise was never fulfilled. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated already existing problems and it may be just the opening act of much deeper crises. It is clear that there isn’t an old educational normal to return to; the old ways were clearly flawed. But how to go forward? In this focal point, initiated by our partner journal La Revue nouvelle, we look into matters of access and inequality, concerns about labour markets and the rapidly changing knowledge production, to map the factors that could inform a better design for our schools.

Traditionally, a young woman used to be presented with a bundle of goods to send her off with to adult life. Today’s bottom drawers aren’t necessarily tied to marriages, nor are they strictly material. Yet, the bundle one leaves the house with is as important as ever. In this focal point, we take stock of the notions our foremothers presented us with: women’s ideas and achievements that define our understanding of power, gender and violence, bodies, connection and agency.

Inspired by a lecture that Clifford Geertz delivered in 1995 at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, this focal point engages with ‘deep diversity’, ‘a sense of dispersion, of particularity, of complexity and of uncenteredness’ rather than unified world order. It follows the launch of a research programme of the same name at the institute in January 2023.

Post-revolutionary Ukrainian society displays a unique mix of hope, enthusiasm, social creativity, collective trauma of war, radicalism and disillusionment. With the Maidan becoming history, the focal point ‘Ukraine in European Dialogue’ explores the new challenges facing the young democracy, its place in Europe, and the lessons it might offer for the future of the European project.

Are ecological crises inevitable? Eurozine looks at the cultural and political factors behind delayed responses to the climate emergency, and potential ways out of it.