Towards a New Knowledge Regime in the Anthropocene – The contribution from anthropology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51359/2525-5223.2024.265858Keywords:
interdisciplinarity, Anthropocene, overheating, anthropologyAbstract
The world is overheating, global civilization has reached a dead end and is negotiating an uncomfortable double bind between the imperatives of growth and the pressing need to find sustainable solutions. There is now broad consensus on the urgent need to take these challenges seriously in research, political mobilization and policy making. The question is what kind of knowledge is needed to take appropriate action. The short answer is: several kinds of knowledge. For a more elaborate answer, an additional question is needed: what knowledge? Taking the concept and metaphor of overheating to explain contemporary stagnation, this contribution shows the importance of interdisciplinarity and questions to what extent knowledge generated in the field of anthropology can contribute to the kind of enlightenment required. Should we learn from the mistakes and successes of the past, seek the necessary knowledge in the small-scale societies that still exist, or insist that modernity must resolve its contradictions by its own means, whether through some kind of world government or through technological solutions?
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