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.

Wednesday 17 June | Experience Holland Festival and Oerol virtually

June traditionally is the month in which several big arts and culture festivals kick off the festival season. Two of the leading festivals are international performing arts festival Holland Festival (11-21 June) and arts, science and nature festival Oerol (15-19 June). Because of the corona measures, these too cannot take place in their original form. However, both festivals come up with a programme entirely online in which you can discover, experience, participate and be simply swept away by arts. Do you want to be part of these new online arts communities and experiences? Check out the links below!

Oerol | Imagine Your Island

Friday the 12th of June the warm-up started, from Monday the 15th of June the programme went live for five consecutive days. Together with the creators, an up-to-date programme has been put together that largely takes place virtually. Wherever you are: you will experience the island, as always, through the eyes of the creators, and the island feeling will never be far away! For Oerol you can donate and you’ll receive a fan wristband. This way you support the festival and its performers now and next year.

Holland Festival | Programme 2.0-2.0

Every year this festival presents groundbreaking performances from artists around the world and new developments in the performing arts. Due to corona measures, Holland Festival presents an online programme that reflects the original programme from 11 till 21 June. Together with the international artists who were going to perform this year an online alternative has been developed. Every day between 11 and 21 June you can visit the website for streamings, video’s, podcasts, writings and image material by the artists in question. Here too you can donate to support the festival.

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 16 June | How Cities Will Change

Cities are profoundly changed by crises. We wouldn’t have our modern sewage systems, paved roads, or waste management in cities without historical confrontations with cholera, typhoid, and the like. How will our cities change over the coming years?

If the 1.5m distance rule remains in effect, urban design is going to have to go through some drastic changes. The shutting down of many stores, cultural centers, even bars and cafes will also have a lasting impact on the look, feel, and experience of our cities. When the city changes, our way of life will follow, and vice versa. William Fulton, director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, notes some of the changes that are likely to happen in American cities, while Michael Safi at The Guardian takes a broader look at what’s happening around the world.

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 15 June | A Conversation about Institutional Racism

Our colleagues at X TU Delft are hosting an online Salon on the topic of institutional racism, Tuesday 16 June at 19:50 hrs on Zoom. In this Salon, we’ll discuss the Black Lives Matter demonstrations worldwide, including the Netherlands, with people protesting against institutional racism and ethnic profiling. You are invited to join the conversation to respectfully share your thoughts and experiences with other students regarding racism.

The murder of an unarmed suspect by a police officer in Minneapolis, US, catalysed ongoing protests of the Black Lives Matter movement worldwide. In the Netherlands, thousands of protesters gathered in cities such as Amsterdam, The Hague, Groningen and Rotterdam as a sign of solidarity with the movement in the United States, and to address institutional racism and ethnic profiling in the EU. Online, on social media platforms such as Instagram, people having been sharing statements and taking part in actions like #blackouttuesday.

Students and employees of the TU Delft are invited to share their thoughts and experiences on the subject. Why are they or aren’t they participating in the (online) protests? And what do they believe are solutions for the existing problems? We invite you to tag along and join the conversation.

The salon will be hosted on Zoom. You don’t need an X subscription to join and you don’t need to enrol. The event will start with a 5-10 minute Q&A held on X’s Instagram in which the event will be announced, starting at 19:50. To join the conversation, just zoom in via https://tudelft.zoom.us/j/99422252709?pwd=Q2F3cndDU3Rlcy9QcnZlSjdWTnY2QT09.

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.

CCP Extra | Het Filosofisch Café: de wetenschap achter meditatie

Het lijken twee totaal verschillende werelden, zelfs tegenovergesteld. Terwijl er in de wetenschap gewerkt wordt aan feitelijk bewijs, lijkt meditatie op niets anders gestoeld dan onderbuikgevoelens. Maar er zit harde wetenschap achter de effecten van meditatie. In deze 1,5 Meter Sessie van Het Filosofisch Café duiken we in de bewezen wetenschappelijke effecten van meditatie met topneuroloog Steven Laureys. Via livestream geeft hij een lezing over hoe het werkt, wat het oplevert en hoe je zelf kunt beginnen. Met een live meditatiesessie door Maryvonne Verkerke (de Mindfulnessschool) om het zelf te ervaren!

Er zijn slechts 30 kaarten te koop voor in het theater, maar je kunt deze avond ook volgen via livestream. De link naar de livestream volgt zo snel mogelijk via onze website.

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 10 June | How the corona pandemic facilitates the de-democratisation of sports clubs

“Sports are for everybody,” says professor Marjan Olfers (Sports & Law, UvA). But because of the corona pandemic something is happening to sports clubs at a small level, that simultaneously unfolds in politics and society: de-democratisation of clubs. During crises, we take privacy and regulations less seriously, and collaboration is harder, at the expense of the democratic level. Thus, inequality can grow. Sports can become an elitist or savvy lobbyist affair.
Watch the talk with Marjan Olfers here, it is in Dutch.

This talk is an edition by De Nieuwe Wereld TV (The New World), an online platform where people from different disciplines are brought together to think about big dawning changes because of technological developments and globalization. This is an initiative by journalist Paul van Liempt, philosopher Ad Verbrugge and David Overbeek and is produced in co-operation with the VU, Centrum Ethos and the Filosofische School Nederland.

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 9 June | The Matrix Economy

Writing for RT, the communist philosopher Slavoj Žižek takes a stab at the fully digitized lifestyle that corona quarantine has accelerated. Especially in New York, where governor Cuomo has invited Google’s former CEO Eric Schmidt and Microsoft founder Bill Gates to “re-imagine” education, infrastructure, and more. Žižek sees this as a big step towards a Matrix like reality, where everything is mediated not by people, but by screens and machines.

Can you picture it? A society without touch?

We have all the infrastructure in place. The privileged among us can work/study from home; get groceries, meals, and any consumer items delivered to our doorstep; get our news, friends, and entertainment online. We can be self sufficient with potable water, sewage, waste disposal, solar panels, and so on. We’re entering a reality where, if you’re wealthy enough, you never have to leave home.

Žižek asks us two important questions. If our lives are lived almost exclusively online, should the networks that facilitate that life be in the hands of private companies? Or should they be in the hands of the public? And secondly, while we sit at home sipping our delivery Mojito, what happens to the underprivileged servicing all the needs of the Matrix lifestyle? How much longer will we treat care professionals and supermarket clerks as heroes before they go back to being invisible?

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 8 June | What You Can Do To Fight Racism

In recent weeks, we have witnessed some of the best, but also worst sides of humanity, which can have its effects on our own mental health and wellbeing. Being stuck at home, it is understandable that recent events can leave us feeling powerless to help and effect change in the world.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world (Nelson Mandela). How you can help is first of all to listen and to educate yourself. This five minute video contains links to a ton of resources, including articles, podcasts, books and films.

Check out this list of resources, many of which have even been converted into a daily lesson plan. Or get started straightaway with this selection of free courses on race, inequality, and social justice curated by online learning platform Coursera.

A collection of resources in Dutch is available at www.withuiswerk.nl

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.

Friday 5 June | The puzzling side effects of corona

During lockdown in the United Kingdom, an obscure YouTube channel featuring a soft-spoken middle-aged man and low production values has gone viral and now has people all over the world hooked on solving Sudoku puzzles. Feed your inner nerd and join a growing community of puzzle fanatics!

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Simon Anthony, who is one of the two puzzle champions behind the channel, expresses his surprise and delight at their recent success. It is certainly no coincidence that they have suddenly reached a new audience, as they have received many messages from people for whom the channel has been beneficial for their mental health during these trying times.

They have also had surprising endorsements from some unlikely YouTube heavyweights who have revealed themselves as puzzle enthusiasts, including make-up artist James Charles and music producer Kurt Hugo Schneider, who are good for over 30 million subscribers and 5 billion views between them.

Anthony’s latest hit is The Miracle Sudoku, a strangely compelling 25-minute video in which he takes on a seemingly impossible grid. Make sure to check out their channel Cracking the Cryptic.

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.