Anthropocene Shiftings: Response to Perego, E. and Scopacasa, R. The Agency of the Displaced? Roman Expansion, Environmental Forces, and the Occupation of Marginal Landscapes in Ancient Italy. Humanities 2018, 7, 116

Abstract

In this response to Elisa Perego and Rafael Scopacasa’s article, I reflect on connections across time and space from an Anthropocenic perspective that is, by urgent necessity, open to the unexpected. In Ancient Italy, and contemporary Tuvalu and Brazil, it is possible to find similarly unexpected ends being achieved among populations that move, whose lives are lived on ground that cannot be assumed to be inert: earth has agency, and over time, it shifts, or is flooded, or buries things. When non-elites are moving into marginal places where life is tough, where earthly agency cannot be ignored, such people are also finding themselves at the centre of major turning points in history. Mobility and survival in marginal places can offer a way to live a less colonized life.

Making place in virus‐free space

“…The key document analyzed for this paper was the Government of Tuvalus “Talaaliki Plan,” a product of the National COVID‐19 Taskforce. Analysis in this paper attempted to understand the public cultural narratives in which the new urban–rural migration was embedded, so additional key “texts” were identified through which to culturally locate the Talaaliki Plan, including the YouTube clip of COVID19 Road, and existing interpretations of Funafala and fenua in research , including observations of Funafala and interviews with its residents that I undertook in 2019 (Farbotko, 2019; Thornton et al, 2020)…”

“…I am a distant external observer, albeit one who has spent considerable time in Tuvalu, the latest trip involving several days in the village of Funafala in February 2019. I have directly observed the ground on which COVID19 Road would be built and discussed the future with the people who live in the village, which has shaped my strong interest in it (Farbotko, 2019; Thornton et al, 2020).…”