What is SOGOLAS Global Forum?
The Global Forum is a space that provides continuity and brings a wider scope to the debates and discussions taking place amongst international scholars vigorously engaged in the study of the thorny issues concerning our present and future and amongst citizens that are caring about the fate of their community. A few of such engaged scholars and committed citizens have been duly convened by SOGOLAS in the last years. Our world is becoming increasingly complex and global, whilst having to face new challenges and risks. Globalisation is a great opportunity, an asset, but it can imply greater insecurity and a loss of clear and collective perspective. If we are not intellectually and morally prepared to perceive or cope with its effects and outcomes, not only with regard to progress, welfare and knowledge but also with regard to uprooting and loss of community among citizens and individuals, globalization could easily transform into a liability.
In our institute we have in previous years reflected upon the European Union’s democratic credentials, human rights and their justification, migration and exile, and populist temptations. We have, in short, tried to ponder over the matter of our times and to gaze at its “spirit”, whilst entering into conversation with its most notable cultural and philosophical expressions. We now intend to go on querying and contemplating our day and age. We know that we cannot detach ourselves from it. What is more, we are proudly embedded in it. Nonetheless, in order for this commitment to be fruitful, a strong dose of reflection is needed, as well as a “nowhere” from which to consider and understand the rapidly changing world around us. The SOGOLAS Global Forum is meant to be this located “nowhere”, an intellectual place for conversation amongst fellow travelers at a time that presents itself as both challenging and promising, both a source of great turbulence and a gateway towards new alleys and paths. We embrace the spirit of the time and its predicament as the primary object of our search, a search that is nothing less than the pursuit of sense and direction.