For over a decade now the idea of the Anthropocene, a new epoch of man, has been migrating from its original context in the geological sciences to other academic disciplines, as well as into the popular imagination via magazines and other venues. While the approach developed in these debates is broad and includes perspectives ranging from the sciences to media and the arts, there have been only rudimentary attempts to develop a critique of the underlying assumptions of such a concept. I would like to outline the parameters for such a critique from the perspective of gender and race, postcolonial studies, and the need for a normative framework for global environmental justice. If humanity is indeed the force behind the changes on our planet, then the humanities are called to explore the new directions ahead of us, for they concern themselves with the study of intellectual creation and the critique of dominant narratives, myths, and ideologies, and the critical engagement with fundamental questions of meaning, value, responsibility, and purpose in a period of escalating crisis.
Anthropocenic Poetics: Ethics and Aesthetics in a New Geological Age. Wilke, S. In: Anthropocene - Envisionig the Future of the Age of Humans (Trischler, H.). RCC-Perspectives 2, 67-74. 2013. Rahcel Carson Center, Munich