| |
| author |
Austin Roberts
| | title |
Anthropocene Imaginaries: Geophilosophy, Political Theology, and the Planetary Future
| | abstract |
The Anthropocene is the name proposed by scientists for a new geological epoch
in which human activity has become a dominant influence on planetary processes. More
specifically, the concept of the Anthropocene alerts us to the fact that the environmentally
destructive activities of a certain subset of our species have recently brought about a
radical shift in the functioning of the Earth System, rendering the planet more unstable
and unpredictable than it was for the last 10,000 years. As a result of the ongoing
ecosocial violence of extractive capitalism, our "new human epoch" is now marked by
multiple crises, including climate disruption, ocean acidification, rising sea levels, and an
emerging sixth extinction event. In recognition of the ways in which these crises magnify
our interdependence with nonhuman worlds, this dissertation argues that the
Anthropocene not only unveils the unsustainability of current societal structures, but also
destabilizes imaginaries of humanity, nature, and divinity that have served to justify
ecosocially unjust ways of life. Applying a transdisciplinary method that draws on the
earth sciences and environmental humanities, philosophies of process and new
materialisms, and ecological and political theologies, this dissertation responds to the
emergence of the new epoch in two interrelated ways: first, by critically analyzing the
mutually amplifying socio-political, geological, and ideological forces that sustain our
Anthropocene crises; and second, by constructing a postmodern "planetary imaginary"
that may help to support and motivate efforts to realize an ecosocially just future. The
work of Charles Taylor is employed to analyze the philosophical and theological
dimensions of the "dominant modern imaginary," which is shown to be based on human
exceptionalism and the secularist image of nature as a deanimated, devalued, and
desacralized machine. In an attempt to short-circuit this imaginary, and to cultivate an
"earthbound" (Bruno Latour) existential orientation, this dissertation's planetary
imaginary is theorized as a "geophilosophy" (Gilles Deleuze), which conceptually
redistributes animacy and intrinsic value to nonhuman worlds. Drawing on Mary-Jane
Rubenstein's "pantheologies" and Catherine Keller's panentheism, geophilosophy is then
translated as "geotheology," which resacralizes the nonhuman through an immanental
conception of divinity. Finally, this dissertation utilizes geotheology in conjunction with
political theories of climate change to propose a radically democratic political theology,
which is deployed in resistance to the secularized theology of omnipotence that fuels old
and new forms of political sovereignty in the Anthropocene.
| | school |
The Theological School, Drew University
| | degree |
Ph.D. (2021)
|
| advisor |
Catherine Keller
|
| committee |
Hyo-Dong Lee
Wm. Andrew Schwartz
|
| full text | ARoberts.pdf |
| |
