Co-Producing (a Fearful) Anthropocene

Abstract

The Anthropocene is not amenable to the senses but, like many modern concepts, must be made visible. We explore the 'Great Acceleration' imagery as an immutable mobile to explore how this human-made geological epoch is constituted through the aggregation of disparate elements of extreme complexity. Our analysis explores how disparate issues such as 'telephone use' and 'coastal zone biogeochemistry' can be associated and enrolled into the same argument. We write as concerned observers, who are concerned with the way that recognition for phenomena is enrolled into a fear-based narrative. This risks reproducing the governance structures at the heart of the Great Acceleration and, if so, we ask ..