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"Ich bin die 'Fremde', die 'heute kommt und morgen bleibt.' (Simmel, 1992: 764). In Zeiten der Corona-Krise fühle ich mich als Südkoreanerin in Deutschland noch fremder, doch gleichzeitig fühle ich mich als in Deutschland lebende Südkoreanerin auch fremd, wenn ich mit meinen Freunden in Korea kommuniziere." Kayoon Kim berichtet über den unterschiedlichen Umgang mit Corona in Südkorea und Deutschland.

In a nutshell, the measures taken to stem the Covid-19 disease consist basically in the drawing of new and the thickening of existing borders. The strategy of bordering practices, as Norbert Cyrus & Peter Ulrich summarize these interventions against the spread of the Corona virus, was pursued first time in Wuhan, China: The right to leave and enter the city area had been restricted and movements across city borders became the subject of surveillance. Also, within the city area, the citizens’ freedom of movement was strictly restricted by imposing a curfew. Moreover, access to stores and working places was only allowed under certain restrictions.

Am 26./27.02.2020 fand die zweite Internationale Konferenz des SFBs unter dem Titel „Polycontextural Spatial Arrangements“ an der TU Berlin statt. Nina Meier reflektiert in ihrem Bericht die verschiedenen Perspektiven, die sich aus dem Zusammenspiel von Vorträgen, Publikumsfragen und Plenumsdiskussionen ergaben und arbeitet dabei eine Auswahl an Argumentationslinien und offener Fragen mit Blick auf das Thema […]

In a context of global inequality, the ontological status of the SARS-CoV-2 virus changes according to the socio-technical network into which it is integrated. Jannik Schritt discusses how the virus travels and translates around the globe in context-specific ways producing different effects and exacerbating pre-existing inequalities. In light of the context-specific transformations of the virus, the question is whether a global standardized approach of isolation and lockdown that builds on a decontextualized equivalence construction is apt to manage the pandemic.

(by Christy Kulz) In the face of the corona virus, numerous references to war and battle frame what is foremost positioned as a national challenge despite transnational cooperation. The Second World War as touchstone carries a particular relevance for Britain where heroic images of victory form a focal point of the current national discourse and conscience. Through reflecting on the current crisis, this post explores how clinging to war images connects to how the UK regards itself and, subsequently, how it perceives both Germany and the European Union.

Talja Blokland, Daniela Krüger and Robert Vief ask how the political measures to slow down the coronavirus reduce our opportunities for support, as they are regulating how we socialize and communicate. Drawing on representative survey results from four neighborhoods in Berlin, they show that, before the lockdown, a majority of their respondents communicated face-to-face to […]

The spread of coronavirus since early 2020 has put many of us at home. Suddenly, the streams of bustling mobility across the globe have stopped. In this blog post, Ayham Dalal reflects on how transportation and mobility re-figured the world. Tracing their impact in the formation of unequal and asymmetric geographies, he puts two less-visible […]

Robertha Barros und Paulo Victor Melo schreiben über soziale Ungleichheit in Brasilien in Zeiten der Corona-Krise. Sie plädieren dafür, die Krise als Chance zum Umverteilen und Umdenken zu nutzen.