The End of Nature? Natural Agents on the Edge of Human Worlds"

Abstract

Nature’s end has been proclaimed often enough over several generations since Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962). Yet, nature continues to intrigue and fascinate, and not least to insist on being part of the lived world of humans on its own terms. Discussions around the “Anthropocene” have reignited debates about nature’s fragility and demise, as well as the place of humans. The concept of the Anthropocene, one might say, is an invitation to reflect on the fact that humans have both become central to and marginalized by ecological processes. How may anthropologists engage the wonders and terrors of these more than human forces that continue to shape our world? True to the anthropological concern with the actualities of human life, this question will be addressed through historical and anthropological examples from Iceland and Greenland – arguably places where nature’s agency is conspicuous. The ambition is to contribute to a rethinking of “nature,” even as we recognize Anthropocene entanglements, and to analysing its agency, even in ruined landscapes.

Il seminario fa parte del ciclo di seminari “Natura e scienze umane”