Anthropocene, History and Politics. Challenges and Critical Itineraries

Abstract

The essay addresses some questions that the concept of the Anthropocene poses not only to political theory but also to the humanities and social sciences. Along a critical itinerary among different theories and authors (from Chakrabarty to Latour, from Moore and Malm to ecofeminism), the essay discusses the concept of the Anthropocene with a ‘political ecology’ approach. The aim is to hold together the common dimension - human and non-human - of belonging to terrestrial eco-systems, with the ability to critically and genealogically read the power asymmetries, inequalities and conflicts that have made possible and still structure the Anthropocene, from the political perspective of inter-human and multi-species climate justice.