Repetition and stagnation in dreams of artificial intelligence Sun-ha Hong Date: July 2, 2026 (Thursday) Time: 17:30-19:00 Venue: 2-508, 5F, Building 2, Sophia University Format: In-person only / No prior registration necessary The technological future bears down on us today with a suffocating universality, described already by Bertolt Brecht in 1939: “I stood on a hill and I saw the Old approaching, but it came as the New.” Futures sketched boldly on powerpoint slides

June 19 (Friday) ~ June 21 (Sunday) 2026 Room L-821, 8F Sophia University Central Library Organizers: David Slater (Sophia University) Megha Wadhwa (Sophia University) Hee Eun Kwon (University of Tokyo) Open to all; no registration necessary Language: English. In person only Paper abstracts and Bios (PDF) Overall abstract This interdisciplinary conference brings together scholars from anthropology, sociology, law, political science, economics, and migration and refugee s

Photography, Memory, and Transatlantic Deindustrialization Thomas Heise June 18, 2026 / 18:00-19:30 Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University In person only / No prior registration required This talk examines how photography serves as a crucial lens for understanding the complex interplay of memory and loss within transatlantic deindustrialization. Examining the rigorous formalism of the industrial typologies by the highly influential German photographers Bernd and