In this series of talks, different thinkers explore the meaning of conflict in our times. 

No longer a ‘great game’ of nation states declaring war, invading, and taking land, global aggression in our time takes place through trade, hacking, and proxies. Far from home, or hidden online, it remains largely unseen by us in the Netherlands. And yet ‘war’ in the sense of conflict is everywhere. Immigration, natural resource extractivism, the war on terror, the war on corona, the rise of the Chinese economy, climate change, and a multitude of cultural conflicts beg the question: what is war in the 21st century? And why do we fight?  

An added layer to the series is the connection between technology and conflict. Where do the resources we need to support our lifestyle come from? What sort of new developments are being made on the battlefield that we should be aware of? Will there be a new space race? We’ll challenge our speakers to make the topics as relevant as possible for people at the TU Delft.

Over the next few months SG will be publishing several YouTube recordings of these interviews and lectures. Since we can’t have any audience present at our events yet, we encourage you to send us any questions you have about these topics beforehand so we can ask the speakers for you! (sg@tudelft.nl)

Events include:

The Future of War – What is war today and in the near future?  

Conflict Resources – What are we fighting over? 

We can recommend the following viewing materials to give you an even broader picture of Congo’s politics, history, and social challenges:
– Netflix documentary “City of Joy”
– VICE documentary “Conflict Minerals, Rebels, and Child Soldiers in Congo” on YouTube
– BBC documentary “Congo: Journey to the Heart of Africa” on YouTube

The Culture of Conflict – Why are we at war with everything? (link TBA)

The Rise of China – Will there be a war between West and East? (link TBA)

This series of events explores the legacy of colonial power structures in society.  

The TU Delft is beginning to support increased awareness of cultural differences, inequality, and discrimination. However, it remains a mostly male, Western oriented, white community, and there are many relevant topics and issues in the realm of identity and diversity that have yet to be broached here at the academic level. By organizing a program series introducing decolonisation to a broad audience, Studium Generale aims to increase knowledge and awareness on this topic and to provide a platform for academic and social discourse at the university.  

Decolonisation, roughly put, is a social movement and academic project that seeks to empower knowledge, cultures, and peoples marginalized by the physical and cultural effects and legacies of colonization and its power structures. This movement also reflects critically on the historical role of universities and Western knowledge production in relation to colonialism. It encompasses issues of race, gender, land ownership, ways of knowing, reparations, resource extraction, rights and representation, and more. From Wikipedia: 

Decolonisation of knowledge (also epistemic or epistemological decolonisation) is primarily an intellectual project that challenges the hegemonic Western knowledge system with its claim of universality. 

This SG series will consist of a lecture series introducing the decolonial perspective and its application in technology, education, nature, sustainability, arts, and industry. There will also be numerous satellite events; master classes, a film night, and discussion groups. Want to know more about decoloniality? We’ve prepared a list of reading and viewing materials to help you along!

Decolonising Knowledge Reading list SG TUD (Pdf file)

Past events in this series:

What is Decolonisation? | Rolando Vázquez Melken
Decolonising Design & Engineering | Rolando Vázquez Melken
Film Night: The Last African in Europe | Mo Hersi

Coming events in this series:

TU Delft and the Colonial History of the Dutch East Indies | Abel Streefland
How to Combine Ancient and Modern Wisdom Today | Jamie van Lede
(De)Kolonisatie en de universiteit | Max de Ploeg
Decolonising Sustainability | Carolina Sánchez
Traditional Ecological Design | Antoin Deul
Decolonising Our Relationship With Nature | Antoin Deul
Keti Koti | TBA
Non-Western Philosophy | TBA
Decolonial Art Workshop | TBA

Decolonisation, roughly put, is a social movement and academic project that seeks to empower knowledge, cultures, and peoples marginalized by the  legacy of colonialism and its power structures. This movement also reflects critically on the historical role of universities and Western knowledge production in relation to colonialism. It encompasses issues of race, gender, land ownership, ways of knowing, reparations, resource extraction, rights and representation, and more.  

The program will consist of a core of lecture series introducing the decolonial perspective and its application. There will also be numerous satellite events with master classes, a film night, and discussion groups. 

The Decolonising Knowledge series will be launched as pre-recorded lectures on YouTube on select Tuesdays in February, March, and May 2021. Live online discussion sessions will be organized on Tuesday evenings via VOX Delft, the open discussion platform of the TU Delft. You can join them for free through the VOX Discord server here. Download the Discord app beforehand (also free) if you want to be able to see other peoples’ video.

Need some help getting started with Discord? Here’s a manual (.PDF) with tips.

WITH: DIEDERIK JEKEL, TOSKE ANDREOLI AND MIRIAM RASCH

After exams, and before new classes start, you need some time to relax. Under normal circumstances you would meet friends, go to a bar or even skiing. Unfortunately the current circumstances don’t allow for it, so we have to come up with alternative ways to meet and take our mind off the usual hustle and bustle of daily life.

At Studium Generale we fully realise we are not the perfect surrogate for drinks and parties. We can however offer thought provoking and topical content that triggers critical thinking and social awareness. We stimulate the mind, and therefore care for your wellbeing. So be on the lookout for our pop-up lectures & interviews in the first week of February!

February 2^nd
Diederik Jekel – Hope in times of lockdown (EN)
20.00 – 21.30

Online lecture and Q&A via Zoom.

What does it mean to be an academic in these difficult times and what can we learn from what we have experienced? Can we make a better world moving forward from this and how can you as students help make this better society happen?

February 3^rd
Toske Andreoli – De mooiste tijd van je leven? (NL)
20.00 – 21.30

Online lezing en Q&A (in Dutch) via Zoom.

Steeds meer studenten zijn over­spannen, neerslachtig en eenzaam, hebben concentratie­problemen en angstaanvallen, ook vóór de pandemie. De universiteit biedt cursussen ‘Burn-outpreventie’, ‘Timemanagement’ of ‘Lekker in je vel’ aan, op social media staat dat je gezond moet eten, wandelen en mediteren. Maar ligt het wel aan de studenten zelf? Een pleidooi voor een ander studieklimaat.

February 4^th
Miriam Rasch – Friction: Ethics in times of Dataism (EN)
20.00 – 21.30

Online lecture & interview via Zoom.

Can humans really be understood as algorithms? What happens to the things that cannot be captured in data? And why is the dataist future presented as inevitable?

Since physical meetings haven’t been possible for a while, the Hesiodos board made an online art museum to display this year’s submissions to the magazine. Take a walk through the online art museum!

For many of us, a great way to maintain our mental health and motivation is to express ourselves. Through drawing, painting, writing, poetry, singing, etc. But sometimes, it might require a bit of a push to get started; like a community of peers to share (online) space with. The Hesiodos creative magazine brings people from the TU Delft (students and staff, Dutch and international) together to create, to share, and to publish their expressions.

Screenshot – click the image to go to the art websiteIf this makes you even a tiny bit enthusiastic, have a look at Hesiodos itself because the students and staff that are currently making it all happen are looking for successors. Being on the editorial board  is a great way to meet new people on campus and to engage yourself and each other artistically.

As we carefully start up live events on campus again, we’d like to invite you to the upcoming ‘Spotting Bullshit’ Series. Since audience size is limited due to corona restrictions, most these will be hybrid events, with a livestream/Zoom session, a recording, and a real life (small) audience!

Bullshit – roughly, the deliberate or accidental spreading of untruths – is all around us. It’s a thing of all ages, but it’s very possible that we are living in THE age of bullshit. Peak bullshit, as it were. Sometimes it is easy to spot, but our brains can be tricked!

In this series of seven interactive lectures, Studium Generale will tackle the issue head on and offer you some tools to spot when we are being manipulated through mental trickery. Join these lectures and inoculate yourself against fake news, logical fallacies and other manipulations, and become a beacon of independent, rational and critical thought!

The Spotting Bullshit lecture series will be held during lunchtime (12:40-13:30) in the main hall in the TU Delft Library, except the lecture on September 29 (20:00) in the Aula Auditorium TU Delft

23 September 2020  | 12.40-13.30  TU Delft Library Central Hall   | When Reasoning Goes Wrong   | Rosa Runhardt
29 September 2020  | 20.00-21.00  TU Delft Aula Auditorium         | Freedom of Choice                     | Joris Luyendijk
10 November 2020   | 12.40-13.30  Livestream only                               | Troll Armies                                    | Jesse Evers
17 November 2020   | 12.40-13.30  Zoom                                                      | Fake News & Fact Checking         | Shannon Bakker
24 November 2020   | 12.40-13.30  TU Delft Library Central Hall  | Social Media Manipulation           | Michael Klenk
15 December 2020   | 12.40-13.30  Zoom                                                      | Deepfakes                                      | Tom van de Weghe

Due to current COVID restrictions, this event has a physical capacity of 20 attendees.
Registration required, just click on the link to the lecture.

Free entrance! Lunch will be provided (during the lunch events)

We are looking forward to welcome you!

We will be on our summer break from July 1st till September 1st. But don’t despair! During the summer break you will still find some of our favorite recordings posted on our social media channels for SG’s #TBT – Throwback Thursday.

Good luck with your exams and have a well-deserved break. We wish you happy holidays; let’s make the best of it, stay safe and take care!

We look forward to seeing you again in September!

Team SG
Brigitte, Klaas Pieter, Lester, Sanne, Yannick and Yolanda

Klik hier voor de livestream.

CCP Extra | De wetenschap achter meditatie

Minder stress en angst, een positieve impact op het immuunsysteem en een scherpere focus zijn slechts enkele bewezen voordelen van meditatie. En dat met slechts tien minuutjes per dag! Hoe werkt dat?

Vanavond duiken we in de wetenschappelijke feiten achter de effecten van meditatie met topneuroloog Steven Laureys (via livestream) en mediteren we live met docent Maryvonne Verkerke (de Mindfulnessschool).

Studium Generale created a Corona Care Package to make #StayingIn as pleasant as possible. In the following weeks we will share videos, blogs, articles and podcasts within four focus areas: Mental Health, The World After Corona, Arts & Culture and other online events.

Wednesday 24 June | Why we hate

Society is polarised more and more. Lots of groups stand opposite each other, opinions are black or white. Hatred towards others is known amongst humanity throughout history, and systematic hate comes to the surface now more than ever regarding the Black Lives Matter-protests. Why do we hate? And will this ever stop?

In the much-trumpeted documentary series Why We Hate, the mechanisms behind hate and how it arises and solutions to banish it are discussed. The series is produced by Steven Spielberg and it is broadcast by Human the coming weeks until July 26 (mind you: the first episode was available until June 21). It is in English with Dutch subtitles. Not for the faint of heart. Picture by Johan Bos from Pexels.com

Studium Generale created a Corona Care Package to make #StayingIn as pleasant as possible. In the following weeks we will share videos, blogs, articles and podcasts within four focus areas: Mental Health, The World After Corona, Arts & Culture and other online events.

Tuesday 23 June | The Roots of Inequality

Racism, police brutality, and oppression in the US and around the world are being massively protested in spite of – and perhaps in part because of – coronavirus restrictions.

Harvard philosopher and activist Cornel West paints a broad picture of what he sees as the causes of these protests. His interview in Middle East Eye describes America as a failed social experiment: an imperialist, colonial power that tried and failed to create some wiggle room for democracy, social justice, and equality. Both at home and abroad.

What do you think of his analysis? Do you think we’ll see any changes thanks to the protests?

Studium Generale created a Corona Care Package to make #StayingIn as pleasant as possible. In the following weeks we will share videos, blogs, articles and podcasts within four focus areas: Mental Health, The World After Corona, Arts & Culture and other online events.

Monday 22 June | The Corona Conspiracy

When the world around is doesn’t make much sense, we start looking for answers. Being stuck at home it is easy to find any answers we are looking for at the click of a button. The truth is out there, but so is a lot of misinformation… As rapidly as the coronavirus spread all over the world, conspiracy theories on the spread of the virus – mainly via social media – followed: the virus was man-made in a laboratory, 5G causes corona and Bill Gates is behind it.

Our colleagues at Studium Generale Eindhoven invited psychologist Dr. Jan-Willem van Prooijen to shed light on this phenomenon by illuminating how various psychological factors including emotions, basic cognitive processes, and intergroup conflict, increase people’s susceptibility to conspiracy beliefs.

Studium Generale created a Corona Care Package to make #StayingIn as pleasant as possible. In the following weeks we will share videos, blogs, articles and podcasts within four focus areas: Mental Health, The World After Corona, Arts & Culture and other online events.