Contesting the Anthropocene

This introduction presents the theoretical and conceptual findings of the Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies’ (CALAS) research on the Anthropocene, aiming to guide readers into the epistemological and cosmological understandings of those from Latin America. Readers will be introduced to the main thematic visions of the scholars who collaborated with us across Latin America and Germany, shining a light on the connections between capitalism and colonialism, considering the historical placement of Latin America in the global economy, and bringing in sociological theories from necropolitics to biocentrism. Moreover, more-than-human relationships are explored through the development of the Technosphere. The introduction concludes with a discussion of how to cope with the multiple crises that we are facing today and recognizing new and old forms of resistance and lived alternatives that have been found through research in the Americas.