An anthropology of impossible futures

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2248167
AutoresMark Goodale (0000-0002-3699-1251, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen39
Número5
Páginas1-2
Fecha de publicación2023-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAnthropology Today (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0268-540X • E-ISSN: 1467-8322
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-8322.12834
OpenAlexW4387232405
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4

This guest editorial explores the intricate relationship between anthropology and the concept of impossible futures, focusing on the global push towards electric vehicles (EVs) and the lithium energy assemblage. Drawing inspiration from a lecture by palaeobiologist Mark Williams, a member of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), the author reflects on the Anthropocene epoch and the human-caused transformations of the earth. It examines the European Green Deal's impact on the automotive industry, the global struggle for lithium and the paradoxes of green technology investments. It questions the feasibility of the envisioned future, emphasizing the contradictions within global capitalism and the potential futility of climate change mitigation efforts. The author calls for a reorientation in anthropological research, focusing on novel forms of unity, solidarity, justice and interspecies bonds in the face of seemingly impossible conditions. It concludes with a contemplation of anthropology's role in translating and understanding social life in the context of unattainable futures without losing sight of the discipline's contested past and inherent hope

Anthropocene · Capitalism · Contemplation · Economics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Futures contract · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Solidarity · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Law · Philosophy