The Anthropocene is based on the idea that human activity will leave traces in the geological strata for millions of years, but Spectrality and Survivance argues that this understanding is speculative and specular, limiting our ability to engage with a non-anthropocentric and post-anthropocenic world. Marija Grech proposes an alternative conceptual paradigm to think beyond limited notions of human language, thought, systems of meaning, and world. She explores how the geological trace of the Anthropocene might survive outside of human readership and how the survival of the human in and beyond the Anthropocene requires such thought.

Format: Hardback
Length: 156 pages
Publication date: 23 May 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

The Anthropocene is a concept that suggests that traces of human activity on the earth will remain legible in the geological strata for millions of years to come, showing evidence of an anthropogenic 'signature inscribed in the rock by the human species. Spectrality and Survivance shows how embedded in this understanding of the Anthropocene is a speculative and specular gesture that transforms the notion of the future into an anthropocentric reflection of the present, prohibiting any true engagement with the possibility of a non-anthropocentric and post-anthropocenic world. In this volume, Marija Grech develops an alternative conceptual paradigm from which to think the Anthropocene beyond any limited notion of human language, human thought, human systems of meaning, or even a human world. Grech considers how the geological trace of the Anthropocene might be said to 'survive outside of the possibility of any human readership, and how the very survival of the human in and beyond the Anthropocene might necessitate such thought.

The Anthropocene and the Spectrality of the Geological Trace

The Anthropocene is a concept that suggests that traces of human activity on the earth will remain legible in the geological strata for millions of years to come, showing evidence of an anthropogenic 'signature inscribed in the rock by the human species. Spectrality and Survivance shows how embedded in this understanding of the Anthropocene is a speculative and specular gesture that transforms the notion of the future into an anthropocentric reflection of the present, prohibiting any true engagement with the possibility of a non-anthropocentric and post-anthropocenic world. In this volume, Marija Grech develops an alternative conceptual paradigm from which to think the Anthropocene beyond any limited notion of human language, human thought, human systems of meaning, or even a human world. Grech considers how the geological trace of the Anthropocene might be said to 'survive outside of the possibility of any human readership, and how the very survival of the human in and beyond the Anthropocene might necessitate such thought.

The Anthropocene and the Spectrality of the Geological Trace

The Anthropocene is a concept that suggests that traces of human activity on the earth will remain legible in the geological strata for millions of years to come, showing evidence of an anthropogenic 'signature inscribed in the rock by the human species. Spectrality and Survivance shows how embedded in this understanding of the Anthropocene is a speculative and specular gesture that transforms the notion of the future into an anthropocentric reflection of the present, prohibiting any true engagement with the possibility of a non-anthropocentric and post-anthropocenic world. In this volume, Marija Grech develops an alternative conceptual paradigm from which to think the Anthropocene beyond any limited notion of human language, human thought, human systems of meaning, or even a human world. Grech considers how the geological trace of the Anthropocene might be said to 'survive outside of the possibility of any human readership, and how the very survival of the human in and beyond the Anthropocene might necessitate such thought.

Weight: 413g
Dimension: 227 x 160 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781786614155