Special Lecture: Anthropocene and the Problem of Narrative in Historiography

March 19, 2016

Dr. Masahiro Terada, Visiting Associate Professor at Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan gave a special lecture on the concept of Anthropocene in the environmental/ historical science on March 18, 2016. The title of his talk was: “Nature, Artificiality, and Becoming: Newly Emerging Historical/ Environmental Concept of ‘Anthropocene’ and Problem of Narrative in Historiography.”

In his lecture, Dr. Masahiro Terada discussed the role of historical narrative in a new era of environmental change, and presented it as a fresh approach towards an understanding of the environmental/ historical notion of time. According to the Encyclopedia of Earth-“Anthropocene defines Earth’s most recent geologic time period as being human-influenced, or anthropogenic, based on overwhelming global evidence that atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, biospheric and other earth system processes are now altered by humans.”

Dr. Terada talked about this new era of Anthropocene and the shift in views towards humanity and environment within this evolutionary process. His talk investigated the problematics of ‘narrative of becoming’ from the viewpoint of nature and humanity. The questions he tried to answer were: To what extent is the Anthropocene concept new? Does it truly change our view of earth history and bring us a completely different perspective than ever?