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, WPSA 2022, AAG 2022, AAG environment, 2019 Social Sciences catalog, ASA 2021, bluesale, AAG theory, AAA philosophy and theory, 2019 American Studies catalog, MLA Environment, 2020 Geography catalog, 2020 Spring, AAA 2020, MLA Theory, AERA 2021, CAA theory, 2020 Humanities and Arts catalog, MLA 2022, CAA 2022, WPSA environment, WPSA theory, MLA Forerunners Series, CAA environment

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).