Anthropocene Unseen: A Lexicon
- Edited by Cymene Howe, Anand Pandian
Published on February 7, 2020 by punctum books
- Pages
- 545 pages
- Languages
- English
- Dimensions
- 5⤫8 in.
- ISBN (Paperback)
- ISBN: 978-1-950192-55-7 (Paperback)
- ISBN (PDF)
- ISBN: 978-1-950192-56-4 (PDF)
- LCCN
- LCCN: 2019951805
- BISAC subject codes
- BISAC: SOC002000
- Thema subject codes
- THEMA: JHMC, RNPG
The idea of the Anthropocene often generates an overwhelming sense of abjection or apathy. It occupies the imagination as a set of circumstances that counterpose individual human actors against ungraspable scales and impossible odds. There is much at stake in how we understand the implications of this planetary imagination, and how to plot paths from this present to other less troubling futures. With Anthropocene Unseen: A Lexicon, the editors aim at a resource helpful for this task: a catalog of ways to pluralize and radicalize our picture of the Anthropocene, to make it speak more effectively to a wider range of contemporary human societies and circumstances. Organized as a lexicon for troubled times, each entry in this book recognizes the gravity of the global forecasts that invest the present with its widespread air of crisis, urgency, and apocalyptic possibility. Each also finds value in smaller scales of analysis, capturing the magnitude of an epoch in the unique resonances afforded by a single word.
The Holocene may have been the age in which we learned our letters, but we are faced now with circumstances that demand more experimental plasticity. Alternative ways of perceiving a moment can bring a halt to habitual action, opening a space for slantwise movements through the shock of the unexpected. Each small essay in this lexicon is meant to do just this, drawing from anthropology, literary studies, artistic practice, and other humanistic endeavors to open up the range of possible action by contributing some other concrete way of seeing the present. Each entry proposes a different way of conceiving this Earth from some grounded place, always in a manner that aims to provoke a different imagination of the Anthropocene as a whole.
The Anthropocene is a world-engulfing concept, drawing every thing and being imaginable into its purview, both in terms of geographic scale and temporal duration. Pronouncing an epoch in our own name may seem the ultimate act of apex species self-aggrandizement, a picture of the world as dominated by ourselves. Can we learn new ways of being in the face of this challenge, approaching the transmogrification of the ecosphere in a spirit of experimentation rather than catastrophic risk and existential dismay? This lexicon is meant as a site to imagine and explore what human beings can do differently with this time, and with its sense of peril.
Contents
Frontmatter (1–16)
Anand Pandian
Introduction (17–23)
Cymene Howe, Anand Pandian
Acceleration (24–29)
David Rojas
Address (30–33)
Marina Zurkow, Una Chaudhuri, Oliver Kellhammer, Fritz Ertl
Anticipation (34–38)
Joseph Masco
Apocalypse (40–44)
Roy Scranton
Appreciation (46–51)
Matthew Archer
Bloom (52–57)
Chitra Venkataramani
Business (58–62)
Gökçe Günel
Carbon (64–68)
Jerome Whitington
Care (70–74)
Charis Boke
Cloud (76–80)
Vasundhara Bhojvaid
Conditions (82–86)
Franz Krause
Cosmos (88–93)
Abou Farman
Death (94–97)
Maria Whiteman
Dispossession (98–102)
Paige West
Distribution (104–109)
Timothy Choy
Dog (110–114)
Ann Marie Thornburg
Dream (116–118)
Timothy Morton
Dredge (120–125)
Ashley Carse
Drone (126–130)
Marcel LaFlamme
Earths (132–136)
Joshua Reno
Ecopolitics (138–142)
Eduardo Kohn
Ends (144–148)
Imre Szeman
Environing (150–154)
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen
Eschaton (156–161)
Jonathan Padwe
Expenditure (162–166)
Naveeda Khan
Exposure (168–174)
Elizabeth F.S. Roberts
Extinction (176–182)
Noah Theriault, Audra Mitchell
Fiction (184–189)
Anindita Banerjee
Fire (190–195)
Daniel Fisher
Flatulence (196–200)
Radhika Govindrajan
Flock (202–206)
Anne Galloway
Generation (208–213)
Vincent Ialenti
Gluten (214–219)
Jessica Barnes
Gratitude (220–224)
Iza Kavedžija
Heat (226–230)
Alex Nading
Hyposubjects (232–235)
Dominic Boyer, Timothy Morton
Industrialism (236–241)
Craig Campbell
Installation (242–247)
Serpil Oppermann
Interstellar (248–253)
Michael P. Oman-Reagan
Leviathans (254–259)
Alex Golub
Melt (260–263)
Stefan Helmreich
Miracles (264–268)
Diego Cagüeñas Rozo
Models (270–274)
Jeremy Trombley
Monoculture (276–280)
Sarah Besky
Mood (282–286)
Atreyee Majumder
Narcissus (288–292)
Naisargi N. Dave
Nature (294–299)
Stuart McLean
Nemesis (300–305)
Laura Watts
Ocean (306–310)
Steve Mentz
Petroleum (312–315)
Elizabeth Povinelli
Photosynthesis (316–322)
Natasha Myers
Plastic (324–329)
Anand Pandian
Plenitude (330–335)
Lora Koycheva
Power (336–340)
John Hartigan
Predation (342–347)
Nayanika Mathur
Preparedness (348–352)
Frédéric Keck
Price (354–358)
Maira Hayat
Probiotic (360–366)
Jamie Lorimer
Quotidian (368–373)
Eli Elinoff, Tyson Vaughan
Recalcitrance (374–379)
Rijul Kochhar
Relationships (380–384)
Zoe Todd
Riddle (386–390)
Michael Gossett
Rivers (392–396)
Rochelle Tobias
Ruin (398–402)
Sophia Roosth
Seeds (404–409)
Tracey Heatherington
Shit (410–414)
Nicholas C. Kawa
Slavery (416–420)
Claire Colebrook
Smugglers (422–426)
Jason De León
Species (428–432)
Eben Kirksey
Stability (434–439)
Elizabeth Reddy
Steps (440–444)
smudge studio
Suburbs (446–450)
Andrew Pendakis
Surprise! (452–457)
Zoe Nyssa
Surreal (458–462)
Nicholas Shapiro
Sustainability (464–468)
María García Maldonado, Rosario García Meza, Emily Yates-Doerr
Terrain (470–474)
Gastón Gordillo
Thermodynamics (476–480)
Cara Daggett
Thresholds (483–486)
P. Joshua Griffin
Timely (488–492)
Cymene Howe
Trump (494–498)
Tom Cohen
Turtle (500–502)
Nomi Stone
Unknowns (504–508)
Debbora Battaglia
Unseens (510–514)
Celia Lowe
Vulnerability (516–520)
Sarah E. Vaughn
Wildness (522–526)
Dana J. Graef
Zoonosis (528–532)
Genese Marie Sodikoff
Figures (535–540)
Cymene Howe, Anand Pandian
Biographies
Cymene Howe is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and founding faculty of the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences (CENHS) at Rice University. She is the author of Intimate Activism(opens in new tab) (Duke, 2013) and Ecologics: Wind and Power in the Anthropocene (Duke, 2019). Cymene was co-editor for the journal Cultural Anthropology and the Johns Hopkins Guide to Social Theory, and she co-hosts the weekly Cultures of Energy(opens in new tab) podcast.
Anand Pandian is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. He is author of Reel World: An Anthropology of Creation (Duke, 2015) and Crooked Stalks: Cultivating Virtue in South India (Duke, 2009), among other book, as well as the co-editor of Race, Nature and the Politics of Difference (Duke, 2003) and Crumpled Paper Boat (Duke, 2017).
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Funding
Genres
- Anthropocene
- Biosphere
- Cultural Studies+Critical Theory
Keywords
- anthropocene
- climate change
- cultural studies
- ecopolitics
- environmental humanities
- extinction
- nature