5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

The concept of ‘Anthropocene’ has become a buzzword and one of the leading ideas in the academic discourse in the recent past. The notion is believed to contribute to newer ways of describing the weighty roles of humans in shaping the Earth’s geology/ecology and its impact on the society large. While geological criteria place the start of Anthropocene at the beginning of the industrial revolution, scholars claim and argue its foundation ever since humans started domesticating the environment (plants, animals etc.) to suit more to their liking. Although, the term ‘Anthropocene’ is commonly used for proposed geological epoch, its effect on the socio-economic, political and cultural landscape is massive thus claiming transdisciplinary and holistic approach. Few scholars believe that Anthropocene dissociates the necessary relationship between modernity and history. Others underline its flexibility to blend the ideas of nature and culture. Questioning the modernist understanding of scientific and economic progress, it ends the universalistic approach to policy solution forcing us to think beyond, decoding our contexts and decontextualize on how we think of this new era. Blurring the traditional boundaries and dichotomies between ‘humanities versus sciences’ and ‘nature versus culture’, the new epoch of Anthropocene is an attempt to redefine the inseparable relationship between environment, society and culture. With this understanding, we invite papers seeking newer ways of understanding global-local relations in the Anthropocene scene.