The Human Species Has Come Back—The Anthropocene and a Disconcerting De-politicization
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One of the most characteristic aspects of the Anthropocene narratives is its frequent reference to the human species-being. Proponents of the Anthropocene notions characterize the Anthropocene as a geological story of humans-environment interactions in which the human species evolved “from hunter-gatherers to global force.” And advocates frame humanity as a species category to emphasize humanity’s endangered common fate and to summon communal efforts to sustain our earth planet. The idea of totalizing human species in the Anthropocene narrative, however, discloses a problem of naturalization or de-politicization of the concept of humanity. Re-politicizing questions from neo-Marxist perspectives have been sporadically raised, but there have been nearly no noticeable voices from feminist perspectives. Difficulties of de-naturalizing or re-politicizing the idea of human species in the Anthropocene narrative not only arise from imminent threat that all human beings on the globe currently face as a result of the human-induced environmental transformations, such as climate change, but difficulties also derive from the pressing belief that human communal efforts rather than individual ones are indeed needed to keep the earth sustainable. All humanity’s communal efforts or solutions that have been suggested in the Anthropocene narrative, however, are prone to resort either to scientific and technological advance or to abstract ethical obligations, which are more likely to deepen the feeling of distance and detachment from environmental problems that the idea of species in the Anthropocene of the climate change already garnered. People’s awareness and praxis regarding the Anthropocene environmental crisis should be experienced in individuals’ daily lives with a communal sense, and it is a feminist sense of communities of practice such as Donna Haraway’s concept of “response-ability” that can enact as a good antidote to species-induced distance and detachment and can pave a way toward a new ethic for “felt urgency” of Anthropocene humanity.
Abstract
One of the most characteristic aspects of the Anthropocene narratives is its frequent reference to the human species-being. Proponents of the Anthropocene notions characterize the Anthropocene as a geological story of humans-environment interactions in which the human species evolved “from hunter-gatherers to global force.” And advocates frame humanity as a species category to emphasize humanity’s endangered common fate and to summon communal efforts to sustain our earth planet. The idea of totalizing human species in the Anthropocene narrative, however, discloses a problem of naturalization or de-politicization of the concept of humanity. Re-politicizing questions from neo-Marxist perspectives have been sporadically raised, but there have been nearly no noticeable voices from feminist perspectives. Difficulties of de-naturalizing or re-politicizing the idea of human species in the Anthropocene narrative not only arise from imminent threat that all human beings on the globe currently face as a result of the human-induced environmental transformations, such as climate change, but difficulties also derive from the pressing belief that human communal efforts rather than individual ones are indeed needed to keep the earth sustainable. All humanity’s communal efforts or solutions that have been suggested in the Anthropocene narrative, however, are prone to resort either to scientific and technological advance or to abstract ethical obligations, which are more likely to deepen the feeling of distance and detachment from environmental problems that the idea of species in the Anthropocene of the climate change already garnered. People’s awareness and praxis regarding the Anthropocene environmental crisis should be experienced in individuals’ daily lives with a communal sense, and it is a feminist sense of communities of practice such as Donna Haraway’s concept of “response-ability” that can enact as a good antidote to species-induced distance and detachment and can pave a way toward a new ethic for “felt urgency” of Anthropocene humanity.
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