Who speaks for the future of Earth? How critical social science can extend the conversation on the Anthropocene

TY - JOUR

T1 - Who speaks for the future of Earth? How critical social science can extend the conversation on the Anthropocene

AU - Lovbrand, Eva

AU - Becker, Silke

AU - Chilvers, Jason

AU - Forsyth, Tim

AU - Hedren, Johan

AU - Hulme, Michael

AU - Lidskog, Rolf

AU - Vasileiadou, Eleftheria

PY - 2015/4/13

Y1 - 2015/4/13

N2 - This paper asks how the social sciences can engage with the idea of the Anthropocene in productive ways. In response to this question we outline an interpretative research agenda that allows critical engagement with the Anthropocene as a socially and culturally bounded object with many possible meanings and political trajectories. In order to facilitate the kind of political mobilization required to meet the complex environmental challenges of our times, we argue that the social sciences should refrain from adjusting to standardized research agendas and templates. A more urgent analytical challenge lies in exposing, challenging and extending the ontological assumptions that inform how we make sense of and respond to a rapidly changing environment. By cultivating environmental research that opens up multiple interpretations of the Anthropocene, the social sciences can help to extend the realm of the possible for environmental politics.

AB - This paper asks how the social sciences can engage with the idea of the Anthropocene in productive ways. In response to this question we outline an interpretative research agenda that allows critical engagement with the Anthropocene as a socially and culturally bounded object with many possible meanings and political trajectories. In order to facilitate the kind of political mobilization required to meet the complex environmental challenges of our times, we argue that the social sciences should refrain from adjusting to standardized research agendas and templates. A more urgent analytical challenge lies in exposing, challenging and extending the ontological assumptions that inform how we make sense of and respond to a rapidly changing environment. By cultivating environmental research that opens up multiple interpretations of the Anthropocene, the social sciences can help to extend the realm of the possible for environmental politics.

KW - Anthropocene

KW - Politics

KW - Ontology

KW - Social Science

KW - Critical interpretation

U2 - doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.03.012

DO - doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.03.012

M3 - Article

SN - 0959-3780

VL - 32

SP - 211

EP - 218

JO - Global Environmental Change

JF - Global Environmental Change

ER -