The Capitalocene in Theory and History

In recent years, in the face of ever-more-spectacular manifestations of worldwide ecological crisis, public discourse about human relations with the rest of nature has coalesced around the master concept of “the Anthropocene.” On this understanding, humankind has brought about a new geological epoch in which the human species has assumed a decisive role in transforming the planet Earth as a whole. This co-taught, reading-intensive course takes up an alternative proposition, namely that it is not human beings in general but a historically specific social formation characterized by its own distinctive ways of organizing nature that has precipitated the cascading crises of the present. More often criticized and rejected in existing scholarly literatures, this alternative concept—the Capitalocene—has to date been the subject of neither theoretical nor historical elaboration. Drawing together works from several different disciplines, the seminar will therefore seek to explore the potential and limitations of this alternative approach to our shared planetary condition. Readings will include Jason W. Moore, Nancy Fraser, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Andreas Malm, Kohei Saito, and Søren Mau.

Course open to PhD students only. Others may enroll with instructors’ permission.

HIST 57102 | CCCT 57102 | CEGU 57102 | SOCI 50142