Abstract
The pioneering gaia theory, developed in the 1970s, proposed that it was life that was the unstable, dynamic element, responsible for creating and maintaining the conditions for planetary habitability. Recent discussions about the Anthropocene within anthropology can be seen as questioning the concept of sustainability from a few different angles. Is sustainability predicated on a separation between nature and culture, which is meaningless in non-western ontologies? Does it rely on a deterritorialized, detached point of view? Is sustainability still rooted in a fundamentally extractive model of the relationship between human and non-human entities? This paper argues that, from an anthropological perspective, sustainable and unsustainable practices don’t so much designate opposed polarities, but rather value judgements on the extrapolation of prospective futures.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Economic, Social, and Cultural Context
KEYWORDS
Anthropology, Gaia, Anthropocene, Sustainability, Ontology
