Crutzen and Stoermer’s (2000) naming of the ‘Anthropocene’ has provoked lively debate across the physical and social sciences, but, while the term is gradually gaining acceptance as the signifier of the current geological epoch, it remains little more than a roughly defined place-holder for an era characterized by environmental and social uncertainty. The term invites deeper considerations of its meaning, significance, and consequences for thought and politics. For this Forum, we invited five scholars to reflect on how the Anthropocene poses challenges to the structures and habits of geography, politics, and their guiding concepts. The resulting essays piece together an agenda for geographic thought – and political engagement – in this emerging epoch. Collectively, they suggest that geography, as a discipline, is particularly well suited to address the conceptual challenges presented by the Anthropocene.

No abstract

Recent debates around multispecies communities emphasize collaboration across difference for fostering intimate relations with the world. The basic premise is simple: a richer understanding of the ways in which we are connected to the world will yield greater care for the world. However, while collaboration across difference might close conceptual and material gaps between self and other, and nature and society, it is not always clear whether or how collaboration should take place. Indeed, largely absent in these debates are matters concerning cross-species consent. It can be challenging to obtain consent or ascertain agreement in the absence of straightforward communication. To address the whether and how of collaboration across difference, this article draws on ethnographic research on dowsing—a traditional method for finding underground water and other invisible or intangible resources—in the United States and the United Kingdom. This research shows how dowsers establish dialogue by attuning to Earth Others (e.g., water, plants, spirits) using various tools, such as dowsing rods, pendulums, and their own bodies. This article addresses how practitioners apply dowsing as a technique for communicating across human and more-than-human divides through ethical inquiries that tend to the agency and seek the consent of Earth Others in matters concerning land use. This research suggests that dowsing offers a reciprocal and dialogic strategy for collaborating with that which is often unseen, unheard, or ignored.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract