Situating the Anthropocene: planetary urbanization and the anthropological machine

Ruddick, Sue

doi:10.1080/02723638.2015.1071993

Cited by 73 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Not surprisingly, one detects a certain outrage in these articles (see, e.g., Lorimer 2015; Yusoff 2017). But it is above all the destruction of earth itself that is lamented by such authors, more so it seems than the ruination of human lives, with which I am primarily concerned here (as are Kirksey & Helmreich 2010;Ruddick 2015;Weisman 2007). 3 I am, for course, deeply concerned about the destruction of wildlife and of environments that sustain life of all kinds.…”

Section: Predicting Anthropocenic Falloutmentioning

confidence: 97%

Mutable environments and permeable human bodies★

Lock

2018

Royal Anthropological Inst

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Geologists have declared an epochal transition to the Anthropocene, formally recognizing humans as the driving force of destructive global change; a distinction can no longer be made between human history and natural history. Certain commentators argue that Capitalocene better characterizes the situation, given that the effects of planetary decimation and global warming are not equally distributed among humans. A second conceptual change has recently taken place in which genomes are recognized as reactive to environmental stimuli both external and internal to the human body. In the post‐genomic era, genes neither initiate life nor drive human development. The science of the bourgeoning field of behavioural epigenetics is introduced, followed by illustrative examples of environmentally caused epigenetic changes that impact negatively on health. Epigeneticists routinely delimit their attention to detecting measurable changes at the molecular level. It is argued that anthropological contributions that incorporate subjective accounts of embodiment involving past and present events are crucial in order to better situate and account for biological differences and health outcomes historically, ecologically, and politically. Discussion of the microbiome provides a cautionary reminder that microbes are the ultimate driving force of health and illness. In conclusion, the Earth Optimism movement is briefly introduced, as is the concept of resilience, but alone these positive moves will not curb unremitting global warming.

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Section: Predicting Anthropocenic Falloutmentioning

confidence: 97%

Mutable environments and permeable human bodies★

Lock

2018

Royal Anthropological Inst

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“…Deleuzian difference should not be a call to 'give up' the 'narrow categorizations' of race and gender, especially insofar as that might also entail 'giving up' the imperative history of critique associated with those very categorizations. Indeed, in contrast to Ahmed's critique, Ruddick's (2010) commitment to the Deleuzian concept of 'ungrounding' in fact provides a rich framework for a close attention to categories and identity (e.g., Ruddick, 1996Ruddick, , 2015. Ruddick's demand is not to ignore or evade the power effects of difference, but instead can be heard as a strategic call to think through -not without or beyond -such categories.…”

Section: Emphasis In Original)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Between ontology and representation

Cockayne¹,

Ruez²,

Secor

2016

Progress in Human Geography

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The concept of difference has long been integral to geographical thought. However, it is rare for geographers to consider precisely what difference is, or how it functions, and there are several contrasting traditions through which difference is understood. We argue that geographers could helpfully extend their theorizations of difference through Deleuze's philosophy of 'difference-in-itself'. We examine the value of a 'difference-in-itself' that views difference as generative, originary, and primary, in productive tension with conceptions of difference that tend to, purposefully or otherwise, subordinate difference to presupposed identity-based, representational categories, or dialectical forms of contradiction and opposition.

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“…Swyngedouw (), as discussed earlier in this article, makes the claim that our neoliberal livelihoods in contemporary cities are predicated upon a global resource base—consumption within a territory affects the entire planet. The combination of low‐carbon city living with the realization that we live in an era of planetary urbanization (Brenner and Schmid, ; Riddick, ) means that the ecological footprint of an area undergoing ecological gentrification may, perversely, increase the ecological footprint of the city when taking consumption and life‐cycle impact into account.…”

Section: Ecological Gentrification: (Un)intended Consequence or Justimentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Gentrification in Response to Apocalyptic Narratives of Climate Change: The Production of an Immuno‐political Fantasy

Harper¹

2019

Int J Urban Regional Res

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Anxieties over the potential impacts of climate change, often framed in apocalyptic language, are having a profound, but little studied effect on the contemporary Western urbanscape. This article examines the ways in which current theorizations of 'ecological gentrification' express only half the process, describing how green space is used for social control, but not how ecology is used as a justification regime for such projects. As urbanites seek out housing and living practices that have a lower environmental impact, urban planners have responded by providing large-scale regeneration of the urbanscape. With the demand for this housing increasing, questions of inequality, displacement and dispossession arise. I ask whether apocalyptic anxiety is being enrolled in the justification regimes of these projects to make them hard to resist at the planning and implementation stages. The article shows that, in capitalizing on collective anxiety surrounding an apocalyptic future, these projects depoliticize subjects by using the empty signifier, 'Sustainability', leading them into an immuno-political relationship to the urbanscape. This leaves subjects feeling protected from both responsibility for, and the impacts of, climate change. Ultimately, this has the consequence of gentrification coupled with potentially worsening consumptive practices, rebound effects and the depoliticization of the environmentally conscious urbanite.

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Situating the Anthropocene: planetary urbanization and the anthropological machine

Cited by 73 publications

References 24 publications

Mutable environments and permeable human bodies★

Mutable environments and permeable human bodies★

Between ontology and representation

Ecological Gentrification in Response to Apocalyptic Narratives of Climate Change: The Production of an Immuno‐political Fantasy

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