Local Fears, Global Anxieties

If you want to, there is always something to worry about – we can worry about our health, our family, our finances and then move on the the wider world’s problems – terrorism, climate change…the list goes on.

As a people, we have never been a more anxious lot, as evidence by the explosion is anxiety-related conditions. To discuss this phenomenon, the Europe Institute at the University of Auckland is hosting a symposium tomorrow (Friday 23 September and Saturday 24th) at the Owen G. Glenn Building in the University’s Business School. The event is free and open to the public.

Local Fears, Global Anxieties will feature 18 speakers from across the University’s faculties who will address these looming concerns from a variety of angles. The symposium has been planned to mark the end of the second year of a research project, dedicated to ‘European Anxieties’ and financed by the European Commission.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was quoted as saying, “Great Britain has entered into an era of anxiety.”

The event aims to analyse the permanent effect on individuals of fear when they are living in mass societies, according to Jean-Jacques Courtine, a professor of French and European Studies in the Faculty of Arts. “While there is no doubt there are good reasons for being afraid, some fears seem familiar while others seem to be without precedent,” he says.

“We have kept the memory of the financial crash, mass unemployment and the precariousness of life in the 1930s; we have in no way forgotten the return of old epidemics and the emergence of new diseases – and the fear of crime and the disasters of war are deeply rooted in Western consciousness.

“But we seem less prepared, and our minds less open, to face the globalisation of fears – global warming, the global financial crisis, global terrorism – which have inaugurated the 21st century,” he believes.

Speakers included Dean of Arts Robert Greenberg, Associate Professor Tracey McIntosh (Sociology), Professor David Mayes (Business School), Associate Professor John Morgan (Faculty of Education and Social Work) and Jean-Jacques Courtine (Cultures, Languages and Linguistics).

Event: Local Fears, Global Anxieties – Europe Institute
Date: 23 September and 24 September 2016
Time: 9am to 5pm – morning and afternoon teas are provided on Friday and Saturday and a light lunch on Friday.
Venue: Decima Glenn Room, Level 3, Owen G Glenn Building (12 Grafton Road)

For more information, click here.