Anthropocene Conjunctures

Abstract

The Anthropocene is the proposed name for a new geologic era in which humans are held to be a defining agent of planetary history. Largely the effect of fossil fuel use in industrial societies, this periodization has itself generated a minor academic industry of publications and theoretical formulations that have alternately challenged and reinforced disciplinary perspectives. In light of this, this chapter argues for a conjunctural approach to the Anthropocene concept, one that focuses on understanding its ‘meaning’ in relation to the political, geographical, ecological, economic, and institutional contexts where it is deployed. It draws on two examples, one from an ‘ecomodernist’ institute located in California, another from the indigenous Kichwa people of Ecuador.