Imagining Apocalyptic Politics in the Anthropocene

by Earl T. Harper
Imagining Apocalyptic Politics in the Anthropocene
Author: Earl T. Harper
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2021-09-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000453502
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Bringing together scholars from English literature, geography, politics, the arts, environmental humanities and sociology, Imagining Apocalyptic Politics in the Anthropocene contributes to the emerging debate between bodies of thought first incepted by scholars such as Mouffe, Whyte, Kaplan, Hunt, Swyngedouw and Malm about how apocalyptic events, narratives and imaginaries interact with societal and individual agency historically and in the current political moment. Exploring their own empirical and philosophical contexts, the authors examine the forms of political acting found in apocalyptic imaginaries and reflect on what this means for contemporary society. By framing their arguments around either pre-apocalyptic, peri-apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic narratives and events, a timeline emerges throughout the volume which shows the different opportunities for political agency the anthropocenic subject can enact at the various stages of apocalyptic moments. Featuring a number of creative interventions exclusively produced for the work from artists and fiction writers who engage with the themes of apocalypse, decline, catastrophe and disaster, this innovative book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the politics of climate change, the environmental humanities, literary criticism and eco-criticism.

Apocalyptic Visions in the Anthropocene and the Rise of Climate Fiction

by Kübra Baysal
Apocalyptic Visions in the Anthropocene and the Rise of Climate Fiction
Author: Kübra Baysal
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2021-08-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 152757363X
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With the increasing interest of pop culture and academia towards environmental issues, which has simultaneously given rise to fiction and artworks dealing with interdisciplinary issues, climate change is an undeniable reality of our time. In accordance with the severe environmental degradation and health crises today, including the COVID-19 pandemic, human beings are awakening to this reality through climate fiction (cli-fi), which depicts ways to deal with the anthropogenic transformations on Earth through apocalyptic worlds as displayed in works of literature, media and art. Appealing to a wide range of readers, from NGOs to students, this book fills a gap in the fields of literature, media and art, and sheds light on the inevitable interconnection of humankind with the nonhuman environment through effective descriptions of associable conditions in the works of climate fiction.

The Future as Catastrophe

by Eva Horn
The Future as Catastrophe
Author: Eva Horn
Publisher:
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2018
Genre: Disaster films
ISBN: 9780231188623
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The Future as Catastrophe offers a novel critique of the fascination with disaster. Analyzing the catastrophic imaginary from its historical roots to the contemporary popularity of disaster fiction and end-of-the-world blockbusters, Eva Horn argues that apocalypse always haunts the modern idea of a future that can be anticipated and planned.

Imagining Extinction

by Ursula K. Heise
Imagining Extinction
Author: Ursula K. Heise
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2016-08-10
Genre: Education
ISBN: 022635816X
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We are currently facing the sixth mass extinction of species in the history of life on Earth, biologists claim—the first one caused by humans. Heise argues that understanding these stories and symbols is indispensable for any effective advocacy on behalf of endangered species. More than that, she shows how biodiversity conservation, even and especially in its scientific and legal dimensions, is shaped by cultural assumptions about what is valuable in nature and what is not.

Theory for the World to Come

by Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer
Theory for the World to Come
Author: Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 139
Release: 2019-04-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 145296159X
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Can social theories forge new paths into an uncertain future? The future has become increasingly difficult to imagine. We might be able to predict a few events, but imagining how looming disasters will coincide is simultaneously necessary and impossible. Drawing on speculative fiction and social theory, Theory for the World to Come is the beginning of a conversation about theories that move beyond nihilistic conceptions of the capitalism-caused Anthropocene and toward generative bodies of thought that provoke creative ways of thinking about the world ahead. Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer draws on such authors as Kim Stanley Robinson and Octavia Butler, and engages with afrofuturism, indigenous speculative fiction, and films from the 1970s and ’80s to help think differently about the future and its possibilities. Forerunners: Ideas First Short books of thought-in-process scholarship, where intense analysis, questioning, and speculation take the lead

Anthropocene: A Very Short Introduction

by Erle C. Ellis
Anthropocene: A Very Short Introduction
Author: Erle C. Ellis
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2018-02-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0192511386
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The proposal that the impact of humanity on the planet has left a distinct footprint, even on the scale of geological time, has recently gained much ground. Global climate change, shifting global cycles of the weather, widespread pollution, radioactive fallout, plastic accumulation, species invasions, the mass extinction of species - these are just some of the many indicators that we will leave a lasting record in rock, the scientific basis for recognizing new time intervals in Earth's history. The Anthropocene, as the proposed new epoch has been named, is regularly in the news. Even with such robust evidence, the proposal to formally recognize our current time as the Anthropocene remains controversial both inside and outside the scholarly world, kindling intense debates. The reason is clear. The Anthropocene represents far more than just another interval of geologic time. Instead, the Anthropocene has emerged as a powerful new narrative, a concept through which age-old questions about the meaning of nature and even the nature of humanity are being revisited and radically revised. This Very Short Introduction explains the science behind the Anthropocene and the many proposals about when to mark its beginning: the nuclear tests of the 1950s? The beginnings of agriculture? The origins of humans as a species? Erle Ellis considers the many ways that the Anthropocene's "evolving paradigm" is reshaping the sciences, stimulating the humanities, and foregrounding the politics of life on a planet transformed by humans. The Anthropocene remains a work in progress. Is this the story of an unprecedented planetary disaster? Or of newfound wisdom and redemption? Ellis offers an insightful discussion of our role in shaping the planet, and how this will influence our future on many fronts. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Tourism

by C. Michael Hall
The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Tourism
Author: C. Michael Hall
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 773
Release: 2024-08-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1119753740
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The first authoritative overview of tourism studies published post-COVID-19 The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Tourism remains a definitive reference in this interdisciplinary field. Edited and authored by leading scholars from around the world, this state-of-the-art volume provides a comprehensive critical overview of tourism studies across the social sciences. In-depth yet accessible chapters combine established theories and cutting-edge developments and analysis, addressing a wide range of current and emerging topics, issues, debates, and themes. The second edition of the Companion reflects the complexity of the changing field, incorporating new developments, diverse theories, core themes, and fresh perspectives throughout. New and revised chapters explore the organization and practice of tourism, pressing health, economic, social, and environmental challenges, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism and the tourist industry, empowerment, placemaking, mindfulness and wellbeing, resident attitudes towards tourism, Chinese outbound tourism, public transport, long-distance walking, and more. Covers the full spectrum of tourism studies, including its connections to geography, sociology, urban studies, sustainability, marketing, management, globalization, and policy Outlines exciting new and emerging approaches, theoretical foundations, and major developments in tourism studies Offers perspectives on major topics including the role of tourism in the Anthropocene, global and local change, resilience, innovation, and consumer and business behavior Sets an agenda for future tourism research and reviews significant issues in theory, method, and practice Features new contributions from an international panel of younger scholars and established researchers With a wealth of up-to-date bibliographic references and extensive coverage of the tourism-related literature, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Tourism, Second Edition, is required reading for undergraduate students, postgraduate researchers, lecturers, and academic scholars in tourism studies, tourism management, tourism geography, tourism theory, sociology, urban studies, and globalization, as well as professionals working in tourism and hospitality management worldwide.

The Great Derangement

by Amitav Ghosh
The Great Derangement
Author: Amitav Ghosh
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2017-07-24
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 022652681X
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Are we deranged? The acclaimed Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh argues that future generations may well think so. How else to explain our imaginative failure in the face of global warming? In his first major book of nonfiction since In an Antique Land, Ghosh examines our inability—at the level of literature, history, and politics—to grasp the scale and violence of climate change. The extreme nature of today’s climate events, Ghosh asserts, make them peculiarly resistant to contemporary modes of thinking and imagining. This is particularly true of serious literary fiction: hundred-year storms and freakish tornadoes simply feel too improbable for the novel; they are automatically consigned to other genres. In the writing of history, too, the climate crisis has sometimes led to gross simplifications; Ghosh shows that the history of the carbon economy is a tangled global story with many contradictory and counterintuitive elements. Ghosh ends by suggesting that politics, much like literature, has become a matter of personal moral reckoning rather than an arena of collective action. But to limit fiction and politics to individual moral adventure comes at a great cost. The climate crisis asks us to imagine other forms of human existence—a task to which fiction, Ghosh argues, is the best suited of all cultural forms. His book serves as a great writer’s summons to confront the most urgent task of our time.

Academic Writing for Geographers

by James A. Tyner
Academic Writing for Geographers
Author: James A. Tyner
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2023-08-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3111190544
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There are many ‘how-to’ books on writing for academics; none of these, however, relate specifically to the discipline of geography. In this book, the author identifies the principle modes of academic writing that graduate students and early-career faculty will encounter – specifically focusing on those forms expected of geographers, that is, those modes that are reviewed by academic peers. This book is readily accessible to senior undergraduate and graduate students and early-career faculty who may feel intimidated by the process of writing. This volume is not strictly a ‘how-to’ or ‘step-by-step’ manual for writing an article or book; rather, through the use of real, concrete examples from published and unpublished works, the author de-mystifies the process of different types of scholarly pieces geographers have to write with the specific needs and challenges of the discipline in mind. Although chapters are thematic-based, e.g., stand-alone chapters on book reviews, articles, and books, the manuscript is structured around the concept of story-telling, for it is the author’s contention that all writing, whether a ‘scientific’ study or more humanist essay, is a form of story-telling.