*COVID-19 Seminar #6: Professor Ien Ang, Western Sydney University * ienang-seminar.eventbrite.com.au Please join us seminar #6 in the COVID-19 seminar series, co-hosted by the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship & Globalisation <https://www.deakin.edu.au/adi> (ADI) and the Science and Society Network <https://scienceandsocietynetwork.deakin.edu.au/> (SSN). *Date/time: *Tuesday 2nd June, 10am - 11:30am (Australian Eastern Standard Time, GMT+10) *Title:* Beyond the Crisis: Transitioning to a Better World? *Abstract:* As time passes it has become increasingly clear that the COVID-19 crisis is not just a short-term public health emergency. Instead, the situation we are in lays bare a broader and deeper organic crisis permeating all levels of society, both nationally and globally. For some, this organic crisis has resulted in a hope for a more just, peaceful and humane future, a humankind living in harmony among each other and with the planet. However, how could we work towards a transition to such a better world? In this talk, I will reflect on a number of political and intellectual barriers to such a desirable future, from the erosive role of human passions to the escalating new cold war between China and the West. To have a chance of a better world, we need to maintain a critical cosmopolitan horizon against the grain of self-interested closures and exclusions. *About the speaker:* Ien Ang is Distinguished Professor of Cultural Studies at the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney, of which she was the director until the end of 2014. She is internationally recognised for her wide-ranging work focusing on the formation of audiences and publics; the politics of identity and difference; migration, nation and multiculturalism; and Australia – Asia relations in a global context. Her latest books are the co-authored Chinatown Unbound: Trans-Asian Urbanism in the Age of China (2019) and the co-edited Cultural Diplomacy: Beyond the National Interest? (2016). *Watch the seminar:* Seminar will be available to stream on YouTube live. Access using the live link: <https://youtu.be/eJsN8Ym85y4>https://youtu.be/S-p5_K9LsLI Date/time: Tuesday 2nd June, 10am - 11:30am (Australian Eastern Standard Time, GMT+10) Q&A with the speaker to follow. To send questions/participate in the chat, you'll need to sign-in using a YouTube account <https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-comment-on-youtube?r=AU&IR=T>. If you have any questions, please send to ssn-info@deakin.edu.au <ssn-info@deakin.edu.au> The talk will also be recorded and available on the SSN Youtube Channel <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVYFQV_UFX9CLreqpNzanVA>. Did you miss our last seminar? Watch it here! <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtH1AbnJ7AFApbhh29fL5kqjNFdD_0eID>