After Theater of Reconciliation, the second edition of the discussion series organized by Max Czollek is dedicated to the issue of Overcoming the Present. The focus lies on events and phenomena of the present and the question of how the past reflects in them. Max Czollek meets people who seek to understand many of the current crises and find answers to them: How to deal with the climate crisis, the expanding wars, the continuity of right-wing politics and violence? How to cope with feelings of grief, despair, and anger? What role does civil society play in dealing with conflicts? And how stressable are alliances for a collaboration in exceptional situations?

Teresa Koloma Beck is a sociologist who studies globalization processes and everyday life in social and societal crises. She is particularly interested in the impact of colonial and imperial history on contemporary societies. She is professor of sociology at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg. She has conducted ethnographic research in Angola, Mozambique, and Afghanistan. She is also constantly moving outside the academic ivory tower as an expert in political, artistic, and civil society fields of practice.