Monsters, Catastrophes and the Anthropocene: A Postcolonial Critique

Monsters, Catastrophes, and the Anthropocene: A Postcolonial Critique examines European and Western imaginaries of natural disaster, mass migration, and terrorism through a postcolonial inquiry into modern conceptions of monstrosity and catastrophe. It traces the genealogy of modern fears to ontologies and logics of the Anthropocene, focusing on anxieties about the loss of isolation from the unworthy and the expendable. The book is relevant to students and academics in the Environmental Humanities, Human and Cultural Geography, Political Philosophy, Psychosocial Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Critical Race and Whiteness Studies, Gender Studies, and Postcolonial Feminist Studies.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 30 October 2020
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Monsters, Catastrophes, and the Anthropocene: A Postcolonial Critique delves into European and Western conceptions of natural disaster, mass migration, and terrorism by employing a postcolonial lens to examine modern notions of monstrosity and catastrophe. Through the analysis of established icons of popular visual culture in sci-fi, doomsday, and horror films and TV series, as well as images reproduced by the news media, the book traces the genealogy of contemporary fears to the ontologies and logics of the Anthropocene. By ontologies of exploitation, extermination, and natural resource exhaustion processes, the book identifies the criteria that determine who is worthy of benefiting from value extraction and being saved from catastrophe, while others are deemed expendable. The book explores the origins of anxieties surrounding the loss of isolation from the unworthy and the expendable, linking them to migrant invasions, terrorist attacks, and planetary catastrophes. This exploration unfolds in a narrative that intertwines re-emerging past nightmares and future visions.

This book holds significant appeal to students and scholars engaged in the Environmental Humanities, Human and Cultural Geography, Political Philosophy, Psychosocial Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Critical Race and Whiteness Studies, Gender Studies and Postcolonial Feminist Studies, Cultural Studies, Sociology, Cultural Anthropology, Cinema Studies, and Visual Studies. Its multidisciplinary approach offers valuable insights into the complex relationships between power, culture, and the natural world, shedding light on the ongoing consequences of colonialism and globalization on human societies.

Weight: 502g
Dimension: 162 x 242 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781138479777