Issue 17 / February 2022
Editorial 2022
by Katharina Wiedemann
After two years in the pandemic’s grip, and after long habituation to diverse cautionary measures so as to prevent infection, we had hoped that this year might signal a gradual return to our sorely missed Wiko life. Real in-person colloquia, workshops, dinners with guest-scholars, intensive discussions over lunch, even Pilates and choir-singing – all this seemed doable. In addition, of course, the Fellows would again be able to explore Berlin unhindered by any lockdowns. They could once more acquaint themselves with the city’s charms and idiosyncrasies. They could visit its theaters, operas, museums and movie houses - while providing staff members with new restaurant tips. And indeed, this turned out to be the case.
But without that anticipated great big sigh of relief; but instead witnessing the Rusian invasion into Ukraine. A shock felt here at the Kolleg as well. We quickly extended invitations to a number of Ukrainian scholars, whom we unfortunately cannot yet introduce here in this issue at such short notice. Yet; it goes without saying that they have effected a significant change in the topics of conversation here this year, not least due to the fact that alongside the newly arrived Ukrainians we also have Fellows from Belarus, Syria and Russia.
This seventeenth edition of Köpfe und Ideen presents you with three interviews – on the issues surrounding legal studies in African countries, on photography in crisis areas of the world, and on the insights that the history of science can give us into our current climate policy. You will also find an article on the advantages of mathematical models for biological research as well as a “Letter from Berlin” that makes eye-opening excursions to Beirut and Damascus.
Lastly, the photo gallery is intended to take us out of that period of isolation I mentioned at the beginning – a period during which we often only entered the world of others while being framed by the black rectangle of a video-conference window – and back into vibrant urban life. Asked about their favorite places in Berlin, the Fellows took us to that beguiling Tiergarten lake the Neuer See, to Moabit’s raucous Torstrasse, to the Paul Löbe Haus and its evocation of order and perspective, to Neukölln’s neo-baroque Körnerpark, and to the Kurfürstendamm and the former Café Kranzler whose remnant crowns the building beneath it like a whipped-cream topping.