Pluralizing Debates on the Anthropocene Requires Engaging with the Diversity of Existing Scholarship

J Pickering, J Patterson, F Biermann, S Burch, L Elliott, A Gupta, CYA Inoue, A Ishii, A Kalfagianni, J Meadowcroft, C Okereke, A Persson

Research output: Contribution to journalEditorialPopular

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A recent article in this journal (Jackson 2021) validly emphasized that debates about the Anthropocene need to recognize a diverse range of perspectives, worldviews, and forms of knowledge. In doing so, however, the author mischaracterized scholarship on earth system governance as being antithetical to a critical and pluralistic stance on the Anthropocene. In this commentary we address key concerns about the article: selective and misleading quotations regarding the earth system governance literature’s diversity; unwarranted insinuations that juxtapose the implications of this literature with those of slavery and holocausts; and neglect of the breadth and diversity of scholarship on earth system governance. We underscore the need for scholarly debates on the Anthropocene to be informed by a balanced and rigorous assessment of existing scholarship, and for a constructive dialogue between global and locally situated ways of understanding the earth.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)e-i-evi
Number of pages6
JournalAnnals of the American Association of Geographers
Volume113
Issue number2
Early online date4 Aug 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by American Association of Geographers.

Research programs

  • ESSB PA

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