Course Overview

The world warms, and global environmental imaginaries transform. As

geologists debate whether we are living in “The Anthropocene”, critical

theorists learn to ask new questions. Evolving representations of culture

and environment have compelling implications for human rights and

indigenous sovereignties over land, water and natural resources. Human

security will be shaped not only by changing climates, but also by how

we frame the understandings and ethical commitments we articulate in

response to them. This course will explore evolving environmental

concerns to consider how visions and aesthetics of place in the twenty-

first century are interconnected with emerging global discourses about

environmental security, governance and power. Blending environmental

humanities and social science perspectives, we will reflect upon critical

approaches to political ecology and the very idea of “the Anthropocene”. 

Anthropology 641/641G SEM001

Classes meet Tu/Th 3:30-4:45pm 01/21/2020 - 05/07/2020 Sabin Hall 332

Dr. Heatherington UW-Milwaukee Anthropology Sabin Hall 310 (inside suite 315) Heatherington@uwm.edu

Office Hours Wed 1:30-3:15pm or by appointment

Image above from the 2013 Habitus Art Installation by artist Robyn Woolston at Edge Hill University, Liverpool, UK.

ANTHROPOCENE IMAGINARIES Seminar in Anthropology, Spring 2020

11/26/19

Course Texts & MaterialsBooks are available on library reserve, but it is recommended to acquire your own copies of required texts. Other readings & resources will be available via CANVAS, and you will need internet/computer access to access course materials. It is advisable to print hardcopies for study.

Required for all (U/G):

Cymene Howe and Anand Pandian, eds., 2019. Anthropocene Unseen: A Lexicon. Punctum Books. Also available open access: “Lexicon for an Anthropocene Yet Unseen” series published 2016 in Theorizing the Contemporary, Cultural Anthropology website. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/803-lexicon-for-an-anthropocene-yet-unseen

Cymene Howe, 2019. Ecologics: Wind and Power in the Anthropocene. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-1-4780-0385-4 (Hardcopy recommended; PDF format available open access.)Amelia Moore, 2019. Destination Anthropocene: Science and Tourism in the Bahamas. University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520298934 (Please purchase.)

Additional texts required for graduate credit (G):

Anna Tsing, 2015. The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the possibility of life in capitalist ruins. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691178325. (Hardcopy recommended; online version available through the library.)Kathryn Yusoff, 2018. A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-1517907532 (Please purchase.)

Optional materials for graduate research projects (in the library):

Dipesh Chakrabarty 2019. The Crises of Civilization: Exploring Global and Planetary Histories. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199486731Richard Grusin, ed., 2017. Anthropocene Feminism. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-1517900618Donna J. Haraway, 2016. Staying with the Trouble. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0822362241Bruno Latour, 2018. Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime. Polity Press. ISBN 978-1509530571Jason Moore, ed., 2016. Anthropocene or Capitalocene? Nature, History and the Crisis of Capitalism. PM Press. ISBN 978-1629631486Jan Zalasiewicz et al., eds., 2019. The Anthropocene as a geological time unit: A guide to the scientific evidence and current debate. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1108475235.

UWM Anthro 641 SP20 2