The Earth System Science’s historiographical proposition: a review of the critiques to the “Anthropocene metanarrative”

Lowande, Walter Francisco Figueiredo

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História da Historiografia

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Artigo de Revisão • Hist. Historiogr. 16 (41) • 2023 • https://doi.org/10.15848/hh.v16i41.1941 copy

The Earth System Science’s historiographical proposition: a review of the critiques to the “Anthropocene metanarrative”

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Discussions about the Anthropocene produced by Earth System Science (ESS) and stratigraphy have resulted in texts that make use of data and models, but that also produce historical narratives through which an attempt is made to offer a new unified meaning for humanity. In this article I take these statements as “propositions” which have the potential to transform historiographical practice. The objective is to offer a more detailed picture of the contributions of these “anthropocenologists” in order to enable a better assessment of the possibilities of reception of these propositions by the historians’community. Therefore, this article aims to review some recent criticisms of the narratives produced by these scientists. As a conclusion, I demonstrate that the literature produced by the ESS cannot be easily reduced to the idea of a “metanarrative”, due to the plurality of positions it encompasses, as well as I point to the need for a pluralization of the historiographical onto-epistemic perspectives so that it can contribute to the multiple ways of inhabiting and giving meaning to the experience in the post-Holocene.

Keywords:
Narratives; Scientific practices; Historiography

Artigo	Quantidade de vezes em que foi citado (posição)	Quantidade de vezes em que o artigo é cocitado nessa mesma Base Intelectual (posição)
Crutzen e Stoermer (2000CRUTZEN, Paul J.; STOERMER, Eugene F. The “Anthropocene”. Global Change Newsletter, Estocolmo, n. 41, p. 17-18, 2000.)	-	244 (2º)
Crutzen (2002CRUTZEN, Paul J. Geology of mankind. Nature, Londres, v. 415, n. 6867, p. 23, 2002.)	-	399 (1º)² 2 Possivelmente em função dos métodos adotados, os autores não notaram que o artigo de Crutzen e Stoermer (2002) foi mencionado duas vezes na mesma tabela, a primeira com 302 citações na rede de cocitações e a segunda com 97 (ALCÂNTARA et al., 2020, p. 24).
*Steffen et al.* (2007**STEFFEN, Will; CRUTZEN, Paul J.; MCNEILL, John R. The Anthropocene: Are Humans Now Overwhelming the Great Forces of Nature. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, Stockholm, v. 36, n. 8, p. 614-621, 2007.)	1151 (1º)	237 (3º)
*Rockström et al.* (2009b**ROCKSTRÖM, Johan et al. A safe operating space for humanity. Nature, Londres, v. 461, n. 7263, p. 472-475, 2009b.)	-	160 (7º)
*Steffen et al.* (2011**STEFFEN, Will et al. The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical perspectives. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, London, v. 369, n. 1938, p. 842-867, 2011.)	695 (3º)	195 (4º)
Lewis e Maslin (2015aLEWIS, Simon L; MASLIN, Mark A. A transparent framework for defining the Anthropocene Epoch. The Anthropocene Review , California, v. 2, n. 2, p. 128-146, 2015a.)	630 (5º)	170 (6º)
*Steffen et al.* (2015**STEFFEN, Will et al. Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet. Science, Washington, DC, v. 347, n. 6223, p. 1259855, 2015a.)	597 (6º)	139 (9º)
*Waters et al.* (2016**WATERS, Colin N. et al. The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene. Science, Washington, DC, v. 351, n. 6269, p. aad2622, 2016.)	591 (7º)	149 (8º)
Malm e Hornborg (2014MALM, Andreas; HORNBORG, Alf. The geology of mankind? A critique of the Anthropocene narrative. The Anthropocene Review , California, v. 1, n. 1, p. 1-8, 2014.)	-	136 (10º)

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[1] walter.lowande@unifal-mg.edu.br

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