Unruliness in the Anthropocene: Subjectivities and Political Possibilities for Change

Fundamentally, the Anthropocene is a universal story, one where too often, the focus is on biophysical impacts that will leave traces in geological sediments. But the Anthropocene is also a sociological concern. Casting humans as the dominant driver of global change is not a neutral description. The legacies of colonialism, capitalism and patriarchy shape which processes or relations are prioritized when the Anthropocene is cast as a definitional moment. In this talk, I draw from feminist and anti-colonial thinking to suggest an emancipatory approach to these challenging times. As climate changes, so do key political subjectivities meaning that some people are assumed to understand change, while others are expected to adapt, creating new forms of inequality and exclusion at a global scale. These new inequalities are often rooted in gender, race and class, but exposure and vulnerability to biophysical hazards adds another intersectional dimension. I outline a relational framing of change that emphasises the affects and effects of climate change through a political, cross-scalar, and socionatural analysis in order to ask, how does uncertainty about the future shape subjectivities and political possibilities for solidarity in the present?