Continuing a tradition that started only last year, the students of Radboud University’s Research Master’s in Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies will be organising another symposium this year. The symposium, titled ‘Facing Crisis: Interdisciplinary Symposium in the Humanities’, will take place on 16 April 2026 in the Maria Montessori building in room 00.035 at Radboud University from 10 am to 1 pm, followed by drinks at The Yard.

We were wondering whether it would be possible to have this event listed on your website. You can find a description of the symposium below, followed by a general overview of the programme. Please let us know if you need any other information.

Symposium description:
Crisis comes in many forms across different periods and cultures and seems more relevant than ever. Our recent experiences with COVID, constant flashpoints of war and genocide, economic hardship, among many other crises, highlight this. Undeniably, crises have profound societal and cultural impacts with highly diverse consequences. Naomi Klein writes in her book The Shock Doctrine (2014), for example, that “[c]rises are, in a way, democracy-free zones— gaps in politics as usual when the need for consent and consensus do not seem to apply” (140). Approaching “crisis” through (art) historical, literary, and culture studies lenses encourages us to think about what we conceptualize as “‘crisis,” how we deal with it, and how it impacts us.

This all raises several questions. How can an interdisciplinary approach to the humanities offer new perspectives on the sources and impacts of crisis? Does studying crisis require new methods, new collaborations, a new sense of ethics? How does our experience of contemporary crises shape our understanding of historical crises, and vice versa? How does such a seemingly broad impactful concept manifest itself, and how can reflecting on this help us as a society live through what we perceive as crises today?

Approaching “crisis” through the shared fields of history, literature, and art/visual studies encourages us to think about what we conceptualize as “‘crisis,” how we deal with it, and how it impacts us.

Researchers Jacob Engelberg (University of Amsterdam), Lotte Jensen (Radboud University), and Sandra Ponzanesi (Utrecht University) will each shine their light on the topic of crisis before entering a roundtable discussion with several students from Radboud University’s Research Master’s in Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies to discuss it in further detail and draw connections between their research fields.

Programme:

• 10.00-10.05: Opening words
• 10.05-10.30: First Speaker
• 10.30-10.45: Q+A
• 10.45-11.10: Second Speaker
• 11.10-11.25: Q+A
• 11.25-11.45: Coffee Break
• 11.45-12.10: Third Speaker
• 12.10-12.25: Q+A
• 12.25-12.50: Roundtable
• 12.50-13.00: Closing
• Drinks at The Yard

Below, you will find a link to the official website and the poster. Sign-up is appreciated, but not mandatory, and will soon be made available via the website. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out.

Facing Crisis: Interdisciplinary Symposium in the Humanities | Radboud University