Lecture by Monika Rohmer & Liliana Gómez
12 May 2026, 2 p.m. (CEST)

Relating to the Ocean

This double lecture sheds light on the consequences of taking a fluid, oceanic space as point of departure of this series. The presentations acknowledge discussions in oceanic humanities, literary studies, and ecofeminism, while relating specifically to oceanic perspectives from Africa and Latin America. Monika Christine Rohmer explores the potential of relating to fluid African thought systems by following two works of literary fiction, namely Fatou Diome’s Les veilleurs de Sangomar and Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness. Liliana Gómez focuses on the concept of “liquid ecology” as a way of “thinking with water,” to examine countercurrents within hegemonic systems and ideologies of extractivism and to discuss liquidity and fluidity not merely as metaphors and allegories, drawing on aesthetic articulations in Latin American and Caribbean arts.

Lecture Series 2026 | Tuesdays 2 p.m. (CEST)

Transatlantic Resonances: Philosophical Entanglements between Africa and the Americas

By connecting historical events with current challenges and debates, the series opens a space for reflection on the possibilities and limitations of philosophy as inclusive, intercontinental or global knowledge production. In this way, it reveals both the interconnections and the tensions that continue to shape philosophy as an intercultural project between Africa and the Americas to this day. Here, philosophical knowledge production has relied not only on written records but also on rich oral traditions, whose documentation poses a particular challenge for the history of philosophy. Next to intellectual connections across the Atlantic in movements such as Négritude, decoloniality or feminism, the lecture series sheds light on the joint challenge of dealing with oral archives and Indigenous philosophies, including Sumak Kawsay (Buen Vivir) and Ubuntu.

Book Launch with Philipp Valentini
28 May 2026, 3 p.m. (CEST), GloPhi Center

On the Affective Moods of Being:
A Philosophical Exploration of Affects in Ibrahim Niasse’s Thought

The Center for Advanced Studies “Philosophizing in a Globalized World” invites you to a book launch and discussion with Philipp Valentini on his new monograph On the Affective Moods of Being: A Philosophical Exploration of Affects in Ibrahim Niasse’s Thought (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026).

The book stages a sustained philosophical encounter between the Senegalese Sufi scholar and Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (1900–1975) and the German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889–1976). Both thinkers, Valentini argues, approach the question of Being not in the abstract but through the affective moods in which human existence discloses itself to itself. From this shared point of departure their paths diverge sharply: where Heidegger thinks Being from the horizon of death as the definitive limit of finite existence, Niasse thinks it from the horizon of apocatastasis — the return of all that is to its divine origin.

Lecture Series 2026 | Tuesdays 2 p.m. (CEST)

Transatlantic Resonances: Philosophical Entanglements between Africa and the Americas

By connecting historical events with current challenges and debates, the series opens a space for reflection on the possibilities and limitations of philosophy as inclusive, intercontinental or global knowledge production. In this way, it reveals both the interconnections and the tensions that continue to shape philosophy as an intercultural project between Africa and the Americas to this day. Here, philosophical knowledge production has relied not only on written records but also on rich oral traditions, whose documentation poses a particular challenge for the history of philosophy. Next to intellectual connections across the Atlantic in movements such as Négritude, decoloniality or feminism, the lecture series sheds light on the joint challenge of dealing with oral archives and Indigenous philosophies, including Sumak Kawsay (Buen Vivir) and Ubuntu.

Organized by Abosede Ipadeola
April 30, 2026, Hildesheim University & Online

Yorùbá Philosophy: Critical Perspectives on Indigenous Concepts and Phenomena

This colloquium will bring together leading experts from linguistics, history, philosophy, and peace studies to engage with Yoruba philosophy from diverse perspectives.

The participants will critically examine Yoruba culture, traditions, religious beliefs, ethical systems, epistemological frameworks, metaphysical concepts, political ideas, and other aspects of Yoruba intellectual heritage. Through these discussions, the colloquium aims to highlight the vibrancy and relevance of Yoruba as a language that contains sophisticated philosophical thought. The one-day colloquium will be in two parts. Each session comprises four speakers, who will explore in detail the fundamentals and important issues in Yoruba philosophy from an interdisciplinary perspective.

International Summer School
August 24–28, 2026

Healing as a
Philosophical Practice

This summer school investigates healing as a philosophical practice from interdisciplinary and intercultural perspectives. We will examine how philosophical traditions across societies, generations, and historical contexts have conceptualized and facilitated healing, particularly at the communal level. Human vulnerability manifests in diverse forms of suffering—physical, emotional, mental, epistemic, political, and relational. Throughout history and across cultures, individuals and communities have turned to a variety of philosophical, spiritual, and relational practices to address collective wounds, restore interpersonal balance, and rebuild fractured communities. These practices seek to contribute to the regeneration of social bonds and the reconfiguration of epistemic and ethical frameworks after periods of rupture and conflict.

International Conference
October 5 – 6, 2026

Korean Philosophy

The North American Korean Philosophy Association (NAKPA) is holding its 11th Annual conference at the University of Hildesheim, Germany, on October 5–6, 2026. This year we are pleased to announce that the conference will be hosted by the Center for Advanced Studies “Philosophizing in a Globalized World” at the University of Hildesheim under the auspices of Prof. Sool Park.

The annual conference for this year will be devoted to: “Korean Philosophy: From a Comparative and Intercultural Perspective.” In view of the emerging importance of Non-Western philosophy, we accept papers that focus on philosophical topics related to comparative Korean/Asian/Non-Western philosophy as well as intercultural philosophy.

From a Comparative and Intercultural Perspective

Research Focus 2025/26

Philosophies in Africa

The academic discipline of philosophy is still defined by a Eurocentric framework that excludes philosophical traditions and actors from vast regions of the globe, not least among these the rich and diverse traditions of African philosophy. Consequently, African philosophers rarely appear in teaching curricula or as speakers in European and North American academic settings. Their current omission from mainstream discourses and teaching materials cannot only be ascribed to unfamiliarity or ignorance of their ideas; it reflects a long-standing historical devaluation and marginalization of African philosophy from a long list of European thinkers who, like Hegel, explicitly rejected African philosophy as part of a global historiography of philosophy.

Database Initiative | Coordinated by Leon Krings

Hildesheim Encyclopedia
of Philosophical Sources (HePS)

As part of the ongoing efforts of our Center to explore global intellectual histories and philosophies beyond established Eurocentric canons, the Database Initiative aims to build an open-access digital infrastructure for the documentation, interconnection, and visualization of philosophical sources and traditions from around the world. The initiative operates from 2025 to 2028 as a core sub-project of the Center and brings together an interdisciplinary team of philosophers, digital humanists, and data scientists. Its central goal is to create the Hildesheim Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sources (HePS) — a dynamic knowledge graph that models and contextualizes sources of philosophizing across cultures, languages, and historical periods.

Namita Herzl (ed.)

Women Beyond The Canon:

With contributions by Tiesha Cassel, Shay Welch, Khimaja R. Connell, Abosede Priscilla Ipadeola, Martina Kopf, Margaret A. McLaren, Priyanka Jha, Kanchana Mahadevan, Un-sunn Lee, and Yoko Arisaka.

In the rich field of the histories of philosophy, certain voices have been elevated to prominence while others have lingered in the margins, awaiting their moment to be heard. The volume Women Beyond the Canon: Philosophies and Feminisms seeks to give expression to these voices and to unravel the threads of traditional narratives, weaving together perspectives that have long been relegated to the periphery of philosophical discourse.

Philosophies and Feminisms

Rolf Elberfeld and Anke Graness (eds.)

Orders of Knowledge in Philosophy: Critical Assessments

Philosophy is only just beginning—later than other humanities disciplines—to face the challenges of an increasingly globalized world and the associated and inescapable but difficult task of decolonization. For it is not only the exclusion of philosophical traditions from other regions of the world or the exclusion of women—both from the history of philosophy as well as the mainstream philosophical debates of the present—that is under criticism, but more fundamentally the claims to truth and universal validity associated with philosophical theories.

Vorlesungsreihe WiSe 2025/26 | Universität Hildesheim
Donnerstags, 10 Uhr | Kulturcampus, Raum 50.2.02

Geschichten der Philosophie in globaler Perspektive

In einer Welt, die immer stärker durch globale Verflechtungen, kulturelle Übersetzungsprozesse und vielfältige Wissensformen geprägt ist, steht auch die Philosophie vor der Aufgabe, ihre eigenen Voraussetzungen kritisch zu befragen. Um Orientierung in einer globalisierten Welt bieten zu können, bedarf es einer Philosophie, die sich ihrer historischen und kulturellen Situiertheit bewusst ist und ihre Geschichte nicht länger ausschließlich aus der Perspektive Europas erzählt. Die Vorlesung „Geschichten der Philosophie in globaler Perspektive“ führt in methodische und systematische Fragen einer globalen Philosophiegeschichtsschreibung ein. Im Mittelpunkt steht dabei nicht die bloße Erweiterung der bekannten Kanons, sondern die grundsätzliche Reflexion darüber, was „Philosophiegeschichte“ im Kontext globaler Wissensordnungen überhaupt bedeuten kann.