Spectrality and Survivance: Living the Anthropocene

The Anthropocene is a concept that suggests human activity will leave a lasting geological signature for millions of years. Spectrality and Survivance challenges this notion by arguing that it is rooted in a speculative and specular gesture that limits our ability to imagine a non-anthropocentric and post-anthropocenic world. Marija Grech proposes an alternative conceptual paradigm to think beyond human language, thought, and systems of meaning.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 158 pages
Publication date: 19 May 2022
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield International

The concept of the Anthropocene is built on the idea that human activity on Earth will leave a lasting geological imprint for millions of years, indicating the presence of an anthropogenic "signature" etched into the rock by the human species. Spectrality and Survivance explores the speculative and specular nature of this understanding of the Anthropocene, transforming the concept of the future into an anthropocentric reflection of the present, hindering genuine engagement with the possibility of a non-anthropocentric and post-anthropocenic world. In this volume, Marija Grech develops an alternative conceptual framework for thinking about the Anthropocene beyond the confines of human language, thought, meaning systems, or even a human world. Grech examines how the geological trace of the Anthropocene might exist outside the realm of human readership and how the survival of humans both within and beyond the Anthropocene may necessitate such thinking.

The notion of the Anthropocene is founded on the premise 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.

ISBN-13: 9781786614162