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Politics of Time and Mourning in the Anthropocene

Author

Listed:
  • Rosine Kelz

    (Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, 14467 Potsdam, Germany)

  • Henrike Knappe

    (Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, 14467 Potsdam, Germany)

Abstract

The Anthropocene thesis makes it necessary for the social sciences to engage with temporality in novel ways. The Anthropocene highlights interconnections between ‘natural’ and ‘social’ non-linear temporal processes. However, accounts of humanity’s Anthropocene history often reproduce linear, progressive narratives of human development. This forecloses the possibilities that thinking with non-linear temporalities would offer to the political sciences. Engaging with the temporal complexity of the Anthropocene as a moment of rupture that highlights non-linearity allows to acknowledge more fully the affective impact of living on a disrupted planet. As a discourse about temporal rupture, the Anthropocene is a stocktaking of the already vast insecurities and losses brought about by exploitative relationships with earth and its inhabitants. In this form, the Anthropocene thesis highlights how material and social legacies of inequality and exploitation shape our present and delimit our imaginaries of the future. By including a reckoning of violent pasts into future practices, a productive politics of mourning could take shape.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosine Kelz & Henrike Knappe, 2021. "Politics of Time and Mourning in the Anthropocene," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:368-:d:647026
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    2. Anneleen Kenis, 2021. "Clashing Tactics, Clashing Generations: The Politics of the School Strikes for Climate in Belgium," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 135-145.
    3. repec:abf:journl:v:31:y:2020:i:3:p:24255-24260 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, 2015. "The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10581, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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