Rethinking “Decoloniality and Futurity” for
the Anthropocene: A Speculative Spectrality
Rangga Kala Mahaswa
Department of Western Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
mahaswa@ugm.ac.id
Abstract
What is this
thing called the Anthropocene? The Anthropocene is a strange thing. It is
interesting conceptually, fascinating scientifically, and critically intriguing
for our understanding when experiencing the borderless uncanny world-earth
meeting. If an ontological uncanny of natural crisis time represents the
promise of [M]odernity, which civilisation has altered nature, even colonised
Earth into terra incognita circumstances and catastrophic possibilities
simultaneously. The word ‘decolonisation’ of Anthropocene means ignoring the
role of the world-colonialism system and creating the worlding conditions after
modernity progress. However, the objections of the Anthropocene do not separate
calamities based on ideology, political movement, social class, cultural
local-wisdom, or even philosophical doctrine. In the eye of a geological epoch,
human is being objects at the same time. For example, after the Great
Acceleration event, people unconsciously produced a new planetary risk through
rapid uncontrolled population growth, advanced post-capitalism industrialisation,
and other unseen anthropogenic activities. Should [All] Humans be responsible
for mass extinction and be wise in adapting near planetary future? The answer
is open-ended because all of us are always possible contributors to anthropogenic
wastes, even in small amounts, as non-neutrality accumulation. So, we cannot
really hide in the image of the decolonisation of the Anthropocene, although it
challenges Western thought categories about geophysical force and geopolitical agents
in postcolonial view. It has never been (geo) decolonised—dwelling on the
Earth—but we are only possible to decolonise our humanity. The limitation of
our perception grasps the real-uncertainty-materiality world, breaking the wall
of narcissistic self-exceptionalism. Conceptually, decentering subject helps us
feel the strangeness of non-human entities, opening a more-than-human possible
world. Additionally, (re)questioning the status of ‘Anthropos’ in the
Anthropocene is critically important to remind us that it is part of our
concern to consider the prospect of new interrelations between human and
non-human. To do so, the recent revival of new weird materialism and
speculative turn can open up the context of agency and materiality in the
global Anthropocene.
Keywords
Anthropocene, Decoloniality, Speculative-Fiction, Spectrality.
References
Amoureux,
J., & Reddy, V. (2021). Multiple Anthropocenes: Pluralizing space–time as a
response to ‘the Anthropocene.’ Globalizations, 18(6), 929–946.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2020.1864178
Andersen, A. S.,
Hauggaard-Nielsen, H., & Christensen, T. B. (Eds.). (2023). Interdisciplinary
perspectives on socio-ecological challenges: Sustainable transformations
globally and in the EU (1 Edition). Routledge.
Bennett, J. (2010). Vibrant
Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Duke University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822391623
Bond, L., De Bruyn, B., &
Rapson, J. (2017). Planetary memory in contemporary American fiction. Textual
Practice, 31(5), 853–866. https://doi.org/10.1080/0950236X.2017.1323458
Campbell, N., McHugh, G.,
& Dylan-Ennis, P. (2019). Climate Change Is Not a Problem: Speculative
Realism at the End of Organization. Organization Studies, 40(5),
725–744. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840618765553
Chakrabarty, D. (2021). The
climate of history in a planetary age. The University of Chicago Press.
Clark, N., & Szerszynski,
B. (2021). Planetary social thought: The anthropocene challenge to the
social sciences. Polity Press.
Cohen, T., Colebrook, C.,
& Miller, J. H. (2016). Twilight of the anthropocene idols (First
edition). Open Humanities Press.
Colebrook, C. (2014). Death
of the PostHuman: Essays on Extinction. Vol. 1 (Vol. 1). Open Humanities
Press.
De Landa, M. (1997). A
thousand years of nonlinear history. Zone Books.
Grech, M. (2022). Spectrality
and survivance: Living the anthropocene. Rowman & Littlefield.
Herbrechter, S., Callus, I.,
Rossini, M., Grech, M., de Bruin-Molé, M., & John Müller, C. (Eds.).
(2022). Palgrave Handbook of Critical Posthumanism. Springer
International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04958-3
Hoelle, J., & Kawa, N. C.
(2021). Placing the Anthropos in Anthropocene. Annals of the American
Association of Geographers, 111(3), 655–662.
https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1842171
Kaup, M. (2021). New
ecological realisms: Postapocalyptic fiction and contemporary theory.
Edinburgh university press.
Mahaswa, R. K., & Kim, M.
S. (2023). Introducing the Pluriverse of the Anthropocene: Toward an
Ontological Politics of Environmental Governance in Indonesia. In A. Triyanti,
M. Indrawan, L. Nurhidayah, & M. A. Marfai (Eds.), Environmental
Governance in Indonesia (Vol. 61, pp. 15–31). Springer International
Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15904-6_2
Malabou, C. (2022). Plasticity:
The Promise of Explosion (T. Williams, Ed.; 1st ed.). Edinburgh University
Press. https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474462112.001.0001
Matolino, B. (2020). Whither
Epistemic Decolonization. Philosophical Papers, 49(2), 213–231.
https://doi.org/10.1080/05568641.2020.1779605
McEwan, C. (2021). Decolonising
the Anthropocene. In D. Chandler, F. Müller, & D. Rothe (Eds.), International
Relations in the Anthropocene (pp. 77–94). Springer International
Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53014-3_5
Meillassoux, Q. (2009). After
finitude: An essay on the necessity of contingency (Pbk. ed). Continuum.
Morton, T. (2019). Humankind:
Solidarity with non-human people (Paperback edition). Verso.
Povinelli, E. A. (2016). Geontologies:
A requiem to late liberalism. Duke University Press.
Povinelli, E. A. (2021). Between
Gaia and ground: Four axioms of existence and the ancestral catastrophe of late
liberalism. Duke University Press.
Rose, D. B., Van Dooren, T.,
& Chrulew, M. (Eds.). (2017). Extinction studies: Stories of time,
death, and generations. Columbia University Press.
Tsing, A. L. (2015). The
mushroom at the end of the world: On the possibility of life in capitalist
ruins (New paperback printing). Princeton University Press.
Wood, D. (2019). Deep time,
dark times: On being geologically human (First Edition). Fordham University
Press.
Woodard, B. (2013). On an
Ungrounded Earth: Towards a new geophilosophy. Punctum Books.
Yusoff, K. (2016).
Anthropogenesis: Origins and Endings in the Anthropocene. Theory, Culture
& Society, 33(2), 3–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276415581021
Yusoff, K. (2017). Geosocial
Strata. Theory, Culture & Society, 34(2–3), 105–127.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276416688543
Yusoff, K. (2019). Geologic
Realism. Social Text, 37(1), 1–26.
https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-7286240
Yusoff, K. (2021). The
Inhumanities. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 111(3),
663–676. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1814688
mahaswa@ugm.ac.id
Abstract
What is this
thing called the Anthropocene? The Anthropocene is a strange thing. It is
interesting conceptually, fascinating scientifically, and critically intriguing
for our understanding when experiencing the borderless uncanny world-earth
meeting. If an ontological uncanny of natural crisis time represents the
promise of [M]odernity, which civilisation has altered nature, even colonised
Earth into terra incognita circumstances and catastrophic possibilities
simultaneously. The word ‘decolonisation’ of Anthropocene means ignoring the
role of the world-colonialism system and creating the worlding conditions after
modernity progress. However, the objections of the Anthropocene do not separate
calamities based on ideology, political movement, social class, cultural
local-wisdom, or even philosophical doctrine. In the eye of a geological epoch,
human is being objects at the same time. For example, after the Great
Acceleration event, people unconsciously produced a new planetary risk through
rapid uncontrolled population growth, advanced post-capitalism industrialisation,
and other unseen anthropogenic activities. Should [All] Humans be responsible
for mass extinction and be wise in adapting near planetary future? The answer
is open-ended because all of us are always possible contributors to anthropogenic
wastes, even in small amounts, as non-neutrality accumulation. So, we cannot
really hide in the image of the decolonisation of the Anthropocene, although it
challenges Western thought categories about geophysical force and geopolitical agents
in postcolonial view. It has never been (geo) decolonised—dwelling on the
Earth—but we are only possible to decolonise our humanity. The limitation of
our perception grasps the real-uncertainty-materiality world, breaking the wall
of narcissistic self-exceptionalism. Conceptually, decentering subject helps us
feel the strangeness of non-human entities, opening a more-than-human possible
world. Additionally, (re)questioning the status of ‘Anthropos’ in the
Anthropocene is critically important to remind us that it is part of our
concern to consider the prospect of new interrelations between human and
non-human. To do so, the recent revival of new weird materialism and
speculative turn can open up the context of agency and materiality in the
global Anthropocene.
Keywords
Anthropocene, Decoloniality, Speculative-Fiction, Spectrality.References
Amoureux,
J., & Reddy, V. (2021). Multiple Anthropocenes: Pluralizing space–time as a
response to ‘the Anthropocene.’ Globalizations, 18(6), 929–946.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2020.1864178
Andersen, A. S.,
Hauggaard-Nielsen, H., & Christensen, T. B. (Eds.). (2023). Interdisciplinary
perspectives on socio-ecological challenges: Sustainable transformations
globally and in the EU (1 Edition). Routledge.
Bennett, J. (2010). Vibrant
Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Duke University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822391623
Bond, L., De Bruyn, B., &
Rapson, J. (2017). Planetary memory in contemporary American fiction. Textual
Practice, 31(5), 853–866. https://doi.org/10.1080/0950236X.2017.1323458
Campbell, N., McHugh, G.,
& Dylan-Ennis, P. (2019). Climate Change Is Not a Problem: Speculative
Realism at the End of Organization. Organization Studies, 40(5),
725–744. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840618765553
Chakrabarty, D. (2021). The
climate of history in a planetary age. The University of Chicago Press.
Clark, N., & Szerszynski,
B. (2021). Planetary social thought: The anthropocene challenge to the
social sciences. Polity Press.
Cohen, T., Colebrook, C.,
& Miller, J. H. (2016). Twilight of the anthropocene idols (First
edition). Open Humanities Press.
Colebrook, C. (2014). Death
of the PostHuman: Essays on Extinction. Vol. 1 (Vol. 1). Open Humanities
Press.
De Landa, M. (1997). A
thousand years of nonlinear history. Zone Books.
Grech, M. (2022). Spectrality
and survivance: Living the anthropocene. Rowman & Littlefield.
Herbrechter, S., Callus, I.,
Rossini, M., Grech, M., de Bruin-Molé, M., & John Müller, C. (Eds.).
(2022). Palgrave Handbook of Critical Posthumanism. Springer
International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04958-3
Hoelle, J., & Kawa, N. C.
(2021). Placing the Anthropos in Anthropocene. Annals of the American
Association of Geographers, 111(3), 655–662.
https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1842171
Kaup, M. (2021). New
ecological realisms: Postapocalyptic fiction and contemporary theory.
Edinburgh university press.
Mahaswa, R. K., & Kim, M.
S. (2023). Introducing the Pluriverse of the Anthropocene: Toward an
Ontological Politics of Environmental Governance in Indonesia. In A. Triyanti,
M. Indrawan, L. Nurhidayah, & M. A. Marfai (Eds.), Environmental
Governance in Indonesia (Vol. 61, pp. 15–31). Springer International
Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15904-6_2
Malabou, C. (2022). Plasticity:
The Promise of Explosion (T. Williams, Ed.; 1st ed.). Edinburgh University
Press. https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474462112.001.0001
Matolino, B. (2020). Whither
Epistemic Decolonization. Philosophical Papers, 49(2), 213–231.
https://doi.org/10.1080/05568641.2020.1779605
McEwan, C. (2021). Decolonising
the Anthropocene. In D. Chandler, F. Müller, & D. Rothe (Eds.), International
Relations in the Anthropocene (pp. 77–94). Springer International
Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53014-3_5
Meillassoux, Q. (2009). After
finitude: An essay on the necessity of contingency (Pbk. ed). Continuum.
Morton, T. (2019). Humankind:
Solidarity with non-human people (Paperback edition). Verso.
Povinelli, E. A. (2016). Geontologies:
A requiem to late liberalism. Duke University Press.
Povinelli, E. A. (2021). Between
Gaia and ground: Four axioms of existence and the ancestral catastrophe of late
liberalism. Duke University Press.
Rose, D. B., Van Dooren, T.,
& Chrulew, M. (Eds.). (2017). Extinction studies: Stories of time,
death, and generations. Columbia University Press.
Tsing, A. L. (2015). The
mushroom at the end of the world: On the possibility of life in capitalist
ruins (New paperback printing). Princeton University Press.
Wood, D. (2019). Deep time,
dark times: On being geologically human (First Edition). Fordham University
Press.
Woodard, B. (2013). On an
Ungrounded Earth: Towards a new geophilosophy. Punctum Books.
Yusoff, K. (2016).
Anthropogenesis: Origins and Endings in the Anthropocene. Theory, Culture
& Society, 33(2), 3–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276415581021
Yusoff, K. (2017). Geosocial
Strata. Theory, Culture & Society, 34(2–3), 105–127.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276416688543
Yusoff, K. (2019). Geologic
Realism. Social Text, 37(1), 1–26.
https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-7286240
Yusoff, K. (2021). The
Inhumanities. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 111(3),
663–676. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1814688
