Public lecture courses in Spring Semester 2022: back to what’s local

15 February 2022. The Covid pandemic has defined our lives for two years. Now, a certain normality appears to be gradually creeping back. In Spring Semester 2022, numerous lecture courses of the public programme will again be held in places in the city of St.Gallen and on the campus of the HSG. It is with particularly joyful anticipation that the HSG is looking forward to the lectures that will be offered on the newly created premises of the University of St.Gallen’s SQUARE in Guisanstrasse 20.

Rediscovering what’s local…

“Whilst the pandemic is manifesting itself globally in an unprecedented manner, we observe, in parallel, a shrinkage of our personal and social world that is the opposite of this dissolution of boundaries,” writes Prof. Dr. Florian Wettstein, Head of the Public Programme, in the preface to the public lecture courses of Spring Semester 2022. “Our parameters of movement have dwindled, our experiences have become more limited, our everyday life has decelerated – at least for the time being.” The fact that local aspects have come into focus is also reflected in the list of the public lecture courses. Thus light will be cast on the origins, history and significance of convents in Eastern Switzerland (lectures by Martin Schregenberger), the history of alcohol production and alcohol consumption in the Canton of St.Gallen will be explored (lectures by Max Lemmenmeier) and insights into architectural solutions for up-to-date daycare in the city of St.Gallen will be provided (lectures by Katrin Eberhard). Not least, the young writer Benjamin von Wyl will transport his audience into the world of journalism and his own three novels, one of which was awarded the Swiss Literature Prize in 2021.

…or wandering far afield

Those who missed travelling to remote countries recently can look forward to lectures that focus on places and issues around the world: light will be shed on the most important ports of East Asia – Singapore, Hong Kong, Yokohama, Shanghai and Taipei (lectures by Patrick Ziltener) and the Crimea peninsula, the strategic hub of Eurasia, will be looked at in historical terms. Furthermore, the cultural histories of America with its “cultural wars” (lectures by Claudia Franziska Brühwiler), of Eastern Europe with its national poets and heroic narratives (lectures by Ulrich Schmid) and of the architectural peculiarities before 1800 will be discussed in detail.

Registration and 3G requirement

During these times of pandemic, it is still necessary to register for the public lecture courses. This can be done through http://hsg.events/oeffentlichesprogramm. In all interior spaces, the general mask and 3G requirements are applicable, both on the University campus and all the other venues of the public lectures. If those rules should change owing to official decisions in the coming days or week, the Public Programme will also communicate this through the website.

Image: Joël Roth