Macquarie University

Living in the Anthropocene - FOAR703

The Anthropocene has been proposed as a new geological epoch in which humanity is the driving force of global environmental change. Scientists are concerned that the planetary boundaries that have nurtured and sustained human and non-human life are at risk of being breached. In this unit we explore how social scientists and the humanities are responding to these concerns. Previous academic divisions of labour in which physical scientists working on natural processes and the social sciences and humanities focused on human societies are being dissolved. This unit focuses on those researchers working on the spaces in-between, connecting human and non-human worlds. Understanding these connections, or reconceptualising nature and society altogether, by incorporating concepts such as the Anthropocene, social-nature, coupled human and natural systems as well as Indigenous perspectives, has become increasingly important as we search for alternative futures. The unit provides a critical introduction to the theories and concepts that are becoming vital to understanding and living in the Anthropocene.