The anthropocene and the posthuman anthropo-scene: narratives of catastrophe and contamination

• Published in: Ilha do Desterro Vol. 70; no. 2; pp. 93 - 106
• Main Author: Sonia Torres
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 01-06-2017
• Subjects: antropoceno; biopoder; biopolítica; ficção especulativa; pós-humano
• ISSN: 0101-4846; 2175-8026
• DOI: 10.5007/2175-8026.2017v70n2p93

A growing body of research on the Human focuses on work being developed in the field if Biotechnology, in search of an understanding of contemporary human attributes traditionally associated with the abstract, with the philosophical. Notwithstanding its predominant employment and undisputed imbrication in the field of Geology, the concept of the Anthropocene, in its turn, is being increasingly used by researchers and professionals from a variety of fields to underscore how humanity is changing our planet. By deploying the concept, I wish to signal both the geological and the historical and cultural moment being experienced by humanity. The underlying reality behind the concept of the Athropocene leads us into both scientific and discursive uncertainty. With this in mind, this work proposes to discuss the human scene (the ‘anthropo-scene’) as represented in speculative fiction, taking into account the role of language and representation in the construction of the (post)human vis-a-vis disaster, biopower and biopolitics.