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The Political Ecology of Isabelle Stengers: Displacing the Anthropocene

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Abstract

This essay delves into the work of philosopher of science Isabelle Stengers to complicate current debates on the Anthropocene, the new geological epoch marked by human impact on planetary system processes. I highlight some problematic elements in the discourse of the Anthropocene, in particular the orientation toward a model of governance by experts, and the foregrounding of an undifferentiated anthropos at the expense of a complex milieu of earthly forces that have enabled the emergence and variation of uncountable forms of life. I show how Stengers concepts of ecology and the "intrusion of Gaia" unsettle any notion of the human as primary agent of Earth's becoming and open up the space for a productive reconfiguration of current understandings of politics, agency and expertise.

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