On February 28, a military operation by Israel and the United States targeting various sites in Iran began. This attack marked the beginning of a war that, at the time of writing (April 2026), is still ongoing and has claimed thousands of lives. These events make it necessary to point out that this episode was recorded before the outbreak of this war and was therefore not meant to be a commentary on it.
- The College
THE REPARATION PODCAST
THE REPARATION PODCAST
In the podcast, we speak with scholars, artists, politicians, and activists who bring different perspectives to the question of how we can respond to a damaged world – to climate change, historical trauma, and past injustices. We ask how cultures can respond to forms of harm that are, in some cases, beyond repair. The podcast is organised into topic-based blocks of episodes, where we speak with individuals whose work engages directly with these questions. We also feature standalone episodes in which scholars reflect on these questions through the lens of their research.
THE REPARATION PODCAST: DETAILS
A child born today will become aware that the world is in upheaval – and that it might not survive their lifetime, let alone that of future generations. This child will ask whether peace is possible – or whether the old, entrenched divides between global powers are too deep to mend. It will learn that the industrial age brought about a new epoch – the Anthropocene – and that humans are making Earth increasingly uninhabitable. It will doubt that experiences of suffering, war, hunger, and drought – past and present – can be traced back to any single cause. And it will wonder whether the uniqueness of human beings as intelligent beings capable of language is about to be eclipsed by a new era of artificial intelligence.
Some believe that technology can respond to these problems. They trust that human ingenuity can overcome climate change, that artificial intelligence will bring more benefits than harms, and that smart global governance might still produce solutions that give everyone a home. Optimists hope that by exchanging our diverse experiences of the world’s harsh realities with care and wisdom, we might arrive at mutual understanding – and peace.
Others, however, are convinced that the time of definitive solutions is behind us. They believe that the problems of our own making – whatever they may be – are beyond full repair, and that we are entering a time in which we must attempt to repair the damage being done to the world without assuming that anything we restore will ever return to what it once was. Repair is makeshift, insufficient, inventive – but it cannot restore things to how they were.
In the podcast, we speak with people who bring different perspectives to these questions. We ask how cultures respond to the perception of past injustice, historical harm, and the idea of a future that remains liveable for all. The podcast is organised into topic-based blocks of episodes, where we speak with individuals whose work engages directly with these questions. We also feature standalone episodes in which scholars reflect on these questions through the lens of their research.
CONTACT
PD Dr. Laurens Schlicht
Programme director (research focus: nature))
laurens.schlicht@khk.uni-saarland.de
Current Episode