Project Description: 

Today the effects of climate change, extreme weather patterns, melting polar ice, hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes raise the specter of the human transformation of the planet itself and of a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. The concept of the Anthropocene (Crutzen and Stoermer, 2000) suggests that the earth—as we know it today—may cease to exist in the future. Rethinking nature in the Anthropocene—the era in which human activities have had a significant impact on the earth’s ecosystems, especially since the advent of James Watt’s steam engine in the late 1700s—has implications for reconceptualizing the very realms and interdisciplinarities of the humanities themselves.

The idea of the Anthropocene can help us to reconceptualize the humanities in new ways that make them compelling to the twenty-first century. Language and images can play formative roles in creating awareness and changing personal behavior and public policy. In my book in progress, I investigate how the humanities (exemplified by history, literature, art, philosophy, religion, ethics, and justice), as presented through the eyes of the Anthropocene, can create a new and compelling awareness of the critical implications of human impacts on the earth over the next 50 to 100 years. In particular I argue that the very concept of the Anthropocene itself goes beyond earlier concepts and periodizations such as pre- industrial, colonial, industrial, modern, and post-modern in presenting a clear and forceful characterization of the crisis for the future of humanity and nature.

An analysis of the idea of the Anthropocene and its implications for the humanities is highly relevant to the problem of understanding, conserving, and managing the natural world of the twenty-first century. My book, The Anthropocene and the Humanities, will be published by Yale University Press in 2019 (manuscript deadline December 15, 2018). It will be of interest to humanists, historians, philosophers, and scientists and will be written in a style that is accessible to the general public. I anticipate dissemination through Yale's publisher channels, annual conferences in related fields, reviews in scholarly journals, online promotion through the web, and distribution through eBook sites.

Department: 
ESPM
Undergraduate's Role: 

An undergraduate student will assist Professor Merchant in the final preparation of the manuscript, including reading, checking, and editing the text, finding illustrations and obtaining permissions for their use, and adding and checking footnotes and bibliographical citations. This work will be valuable in educating undergraduates in the subject matter of the Anthropocene and the Humanities, in learning research techniques for writing a book, and in doing online and library research necessary to preparing a book manuscript for publication. The student's contributions will be added to the book's acknowledgments page.

Undergraduate's Qualifications: 

Interest in the subject matter of the Anthropocene and the Humanities. Willingness to participate in the detailed work of editing a book for publication, checking citations, hunting for illustrations, and obtaining permissions. The work will be carried out during the fall semester and done in campus libraries, online, and in Professor Merchant's office in 138 Giannini Hall.

Location: 
On Campus
Hours: 
To be negotiated
Project URL: 
NA