Politicizing Ecologies beyond the Anthropocene

The topic of the research visit focuses on the relationship between processes of (de)-politicization on the one hand and the present socio-ecological challenges on the other. On the one hand, there is now a general consensus that the ecological problem is serious and pressing. On the other hand, despite the sustained attention to the environmental predicament, the ecological parameters keep deteriorating in a context in which heightened technical and managerial attention to ecological issues promises ways forward to make sure that our ‘Anthropocene’ civilization can continue somewhat longer. The proposed research envisages to make a succinct and critical, yet constructive, intervention in the debate on the current environmental condition, articulated in particular around the notion of the Anthropocene. The main thesis is that the ‘Anthoprocene’, despite the contentious debate, is a deeply depoliticizing notion. In particular, we shall examine how both more-than-human approaches and Earth System sciences that have animated the debate on the Anthropocene co-constitute particular cosmologies that are nominally radical, but may easily serve to deepen further the socio-ecological conundrum the Earth is in. Building on Roberto Esposito’s immunological biopolitics and Frederic Neyrat’s psychoanalytic interpretation of the Anthropocene as fantasy on the one hand and post-foundational political thought on the other, we tease out the critical appeal of the cosmologies that parallel the inauguration of the Anthropocene, while highlighting its depoliticizing implications. Avenues for a re-politicization of the environmental question will be explored.