In Case of Emergency: Catastrophe, Climate, and Capitalism
University of Chicago | November 5–7, 2026 When we trace the genealogy of crisis, it can seem as if we’ve always been surrounded by catastrophe. Different factions of the ruling class tell us that we need to be prepared, but also that preparation may be fruitless. Crises shift and expand, strengthening their hold on us through their very instability. The state of emergency, after all, “is not the exception but the rule,” as Walter Benjamin theorized. It is not a single event but what Lauren Berlant called a norm “embedded” in the everyday.