Podcasts - 07.11.2025 - 08:00

Without Mustard Episode 1 – Annette Kehnel: "We have the resources for fundamental change!"

Anette Kehnel is convinced that even, or perhaps especially, medieval economic systems contain valuable inspiration for an ecological transition.

Ohne Senf Folge 1 – Annette Kehnel über Geschichte als Möglichkeitssinn

"We are at a turning point!" Historian Annette Kehnel is convinced of this, especially with regard to our understanding of freedom. But she also sees this as an opportunity for a new, more sustainable economy, especially if we do not limit our imagination to the solutions and ideas of the last 200 years. Kehnel is convinced that even, or perhaps especially, economic systems of the Middle Ages contain valuable inspiration for an ecological transition in the future.

In this conversation with Wolfram Eilenberger, she explains what today's world trade organisations could learn from 14th-century Lake Constance fishermen, why "disorderly desire" is the mother of all sins, how Diogenes founded the tiny house movement, and which ancient demons are clouding our minds again today. Because: "History trains our sense of possibility" – and it is precisely this sense that needs to be sharpened again at present!

Prof. Annette Kehnel holds the Chair of Medieval History and is a Ria & Arthur Dietschweiler Fellow at the St.Gallen Collegium. Her works include "Die sieben Todsünden – Menschheitswissen für das Zeitalter der Krise" (2024) and the award-winning book "Wir konnten auch anders – Eine kurze Geschichte der Nachhaltigkeit" (2021).