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AnthropoceneGLOBALSOCIALTHEORY

GLOBAL
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THEORY
Concepts | Thinkers | Topics

Anthropocene
The Anthropocene is a proposed
geologic epoch that redescribes
humanity as a signicant or even
dominant geophysical force. The
concept has had an uneven global
history from the 1960s (apparently, it
was used by Russian scientists from
then onwards). The current denition of
the Anthropocene refers to the one
proposed by Eugene F. Stoermer in the
1980s and then popularised by Paul
Crutzen. At present, stratigraphers are
evaluating the proposal, which was
submitted to their society in 2008. There
is currently no denite proposed start
date suggestions include the
beginnings of human agriculture, the
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beginnings of human agriculture, the

conquest of the Americas, the industrial

revolution and the nuclear bomb
explosions and tests.

Debate around the Anthropocene

continues to be globally uneven, with
discourse primarily taking place in
developed countries. Achille Mbembe,
for instance, has noted that [t]his kind
of rethinking, to be sure, has been
under way for some time now. The
problem is that we seem to have
entirely avoided it in Africa in spite of
the existence of a rich archive in this
regard (2015). Especially in the
anglophone sphere, the image of
humanity as a geophysical force has
made a drastic impact on popular
culture, giving rise to a ood of
Anthropocene and geology themed art
and design exhibitions, music videos,
radio shows and written publications. At
the same time, the Anthropocene has
been identied as a geophysical marker
of global inequality due to its
connections with imperialism,
colonialism and capitalism. The biggest
geophysical impact in terms of
greenhouse emissions, biodiversity loss,
water use, waste production,
toxin/radiation production and land
clearance etc is currently made by the
so-called developed world.
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so-called developed world.

Further controversy is being caused by

the Anthropocene concept as a political
tool. The concept has been both lauded
and criticised for representing a less
politicised alternative to climate change
or global warming. Advocates of the
concept in science communication
emphasise the resonance and
accessibility of the concept, allowing for
debates outside of the gridlock of
climate change. Critics mostly bemoan
the fetishisation of all things geologic as
a diversion from long-standing political
struggles against global inequality.

The decision on whether the

Anthropocene will follow or replace the
Holocene (the Holocene having been
subject to similar controversy) will be
made in or after 2016.

Essential Reading:
Crutzen, P.J. and Stoermer, E.F. (2000),
The Anthropocene: IGBP Global
Change Newsletter, v. 41, p. 1718.
Zalasiewicz, Jan et al. (2008). Are we
now living in the Anthropocene? GSA
Today 18 (2): 48.

Further Reading
http://globalsocialtheory.org/topics/theanthropocene/
Chakrabarty D (2009) The Climate of

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Chakrabarty D (2009) The Climate of

History: Four Theses. Critical Inquiry
35(2): 197-222.
Latour B (2013) Agency at the time of
the Anthropocene. New Literary
History Vol. 45, pp. 1-18, 2014
Mirzoe, N. (2014) Visualising the
Anthropocene. Public Culture 26(2)
213-232.
Mbembe, A (2015) Decolonizing
Knowledge and the Question of the
Archive. Talk given at the University of
Witwatersand, 22 April, 2015.
Moore J W (2014) The Capitalocene,
Part I & 2 (On the Nature & Origins of
Our Ecological Crisis/Abstract Social
Nature and the Limits to Capital)
Parikka J (2015) The Anthrobscene.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press.
Turpin E (ed) (2013) Architecture in the
Anthropocene: Encounters Among
Design, Deep Time, Science and
Philosophy. Ann Arbor: Open
Humanities Press.
Yuso K (2013) Geologic life:
prehistory, climate, futures in the
Anthropocene. Environment and
Planning D: Society and Space 31(5): 779
795.

Questions
How does global inequality aect
climate and geophysical processes?

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climate and geophysical processes?

How do the Anthropocene and Climate
Change discourses dier in the public
and/or academic sphere?
How do present knowledge-making
practices aect the Anthropocene

debate? Could you envision

improvements to the debate?
How might the dierent proposed start
dates (and related phenomena) for the
Anthropocene aect the cultural
imagination globally?
Why does the Anthropocene have such
traction in popular culture at this
moment in time?
Discuss Mbembes provocation that
African discourse has a lot to contribute
to the development of anthropocentric
thinking, but has avoided an
engagement with it.

Submitted by Angela Last

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