Towards a new knowledge regime in the Anthropocene. The contribution from anthropology

Authors

  • Thomas Hylland Eriksen Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51306/ioasarance.052.03

Keywords:

Anthropocene, interdisciplinarity, overheating, anthropology

Abstract

The world is overheated, global civilization has painted itself into a corner and negotiates an uncomfortable double-bind between growth imperatives and an urgent need for sustainable solutions. It is widely agreed today that these challenges urgently need to be taken seriously in research, political mobilization and policy making. The question is what kind of knowledge is needed for the appropriate steps to be taken. The short answer is: Many kinds of knowledge. A longer answer begins with a follow-up question: Which knowledges? Using the concept and metaphor of overheating to explain the contemporary impasse, this contribution shows the importance of interdisciplinarity and asks to what extent the knowledge produced in anthropology can contribute to the kind of enlightenment which is needed. Should we learn from past mistakes and successes, seek the necessary insights from the remaining small-scale societies, or instead insist that modernity has to solve its contradictions through its own means, whether that means some kind of global government or technological solutions?

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Author Biography

  • Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo

    Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, an Honorary Member of the Royal Anthropological Institute and an External Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society. His textbooks in anthropology are widely used and have been translated into more than thirty languages. Eriksen’s research mainly concerns social and cultural dimensions of globalisation, from nationalism and identity politics to the information revolution, accelerated change and the crises of climate and nature. He has carried out fieldwork in Mauritius, Seychelles, Trinidad, Australia and Norway. Some of his recent books in English are Fredrik Barth: An Intellectual Biography (2015), Overheating: An Anthropology of Accelerated Change (2016), Boomtown: Runaway Globalisation on the Queensland Coast (2018), the co-edited (with Marek Jakoubek) Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: A Legacy of Fifty Years (2019) and the fifth, revised and expanded edition of Small Places, Large Issues(2023/1995). He is now writing about the threat of globalisation to bio- and cultural diversity, and how communities to save diversity and defend their autonomy.

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Published

2024-06-18

Issue

No. 52 (2024): "Begin Human in Nature. Anthropocene and social sciences"

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2024 Instituto Otavaleño de Antropología-IOA

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How to Cite

Towards a new knowledge regime in the Anthropocene. The contribution from anthropology . (2024). Revista Sarance, 52, 43-88. https://doi.org/10.51306/ioasarance.052.03

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