The Anthropocene: an opportunity for transdisciplinary and inclusive science?

Abstract

The informal understanding of the Anthropocene has sparked a significant worldwide debate across disciplines, including cultural studies, arts, literature, philosophy, law, sociology, political science, and international relations. Beyond its geological and chronological formalization, the Anthropocene is being discussed as a "new planetary real", a state shift in the Earth system, where humanity becomes aware of the role of collective human agency as the primary planet-transforming factor, with dramatic ecological, social, and economic implications. As such, the Anthropocene debate offers a unique opportunity to address limitations of established divides between academic communities and of their representativeness in issues involving science and society. Obvious imbalances in terms of disciplinary, ethnic, and gender inclusiveness emerge from the review of the composition of the Anthropocene Working Group, in spite of improvements over its predecessor, the Holocene Working Group. A strong polarization between the Earth and Natural Sciences on one side and the Humanities and Social Sciences on the other also emerges from the analysis of term co-occurrence in scientific publications mentioning the word "Anthropocene". Based on these findings, we draw some propositions for the development of a transdisciplinary and sustainable anthropocene science, embracing inclusiveness, openness, curiosity, and knowledge sharing.