Break Up the Anthropocene

MANIFOLD EDITION

Takes the singular eco-catastrophic “Age of Man” and redefines this epoch

We live in a new world: the Anthropocene. The Age of Man is defined in many ways, and most dramatically through climate change, mass extinction, and human marks in the geological record. Ideas of the Anthropocene spill out from the geophysical sciences into the humanities, social sciences, the arts, and mainstream debates—but it’s hard to know what the new coinage really means. Break Up the Anthropocene argues that this age should subvert imperial masculinity and industrial conquest by opening up the plural possibilities of Anthropocene debates of resilience, adaptation, and the struggle for environmental justice.

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Environment, 2020 Humanities and Arts catalog, 2020 Spring, 2019 American Studies catalog, 2019 Social Sciences catalog, 2020 Geography catalog, bluesale, 2020 Social Sciences catalog, AAA 2020, AAA philosophy and theory, MLA 2021, MLA Forerunners Series, MLA Environment, MLA Theory, CAA 2021, CAA environment, CAA theory, WPSA 2021, WPSA environment, WPSA theory, AAG 2021, AAG environment, AAG theory, AERA 2021

We live in a new world: the Anthropocene. The Age of Man is defined in many ways, and most dramatically through climate change, mass extinction, and human marks in the geological record. Ideas of the Anthropocene spill out from the geophysical sciences into the humanities, social sciences, the arts, and mainstream debates—but it’s hard to know what the new coinage really means. Break Up the Anthropocene argues that this age should subvert imperial masculinity and industrial conquest by opening up the plural possibilities of Anthropocene debates of resilience, adaptation, and the struggle for environmental justice.

Steve Mentz is professor of English at St. John’s University. He is the author of Shipwreck Modernity (Minnesota, 2015), At the Bottom of Shakespeare’s Ocean (2009), and Romance for Sale in Early Modern England (2006).