ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES AND THE ANTHROPOCENE: AN INTRODUCTION MOD.1

This course is part of the Master’s programme in Environmental Humanities and is designed to complement the second module taught by professor Shaul Bassi. Together, the two modules offer a comprehensive introduction to the interdisciplinary field of the Environmental Humanities, with a specific focus on the cultural, historical, and epistemological dimensions of the Anthropocene.

By the end of the course, students will have acquired both basic and, in some respects, specialized knowledge about the history and philosophy of the Anthropocene from an interdisciplinary perspective from the nineteenth century to the present. They will also be able to develop a critical perspective on the meaning of the Anthropocene itself, its main declinations, and the scientific-institutional context that contributes to, or hinder, its legitimation.

The course does not require any prior specialized knowledge. There are no specific prerequisites other than enthusiasm, curiosity, and a willingness to actively participate in class discussions

This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the Anthropocene — the idea that humanity has become a planetary force, fundamentally altering Earth systems and triggering an unprecedented environmental crisis. Drawing from the geological and environmental sciences, intellectual and cultural history, literature, and the visual arts, the course situates the Anthropocene within the broader framework of the Environmental Humanities.

We begin by examining the Anthropocene in its geostratigraphic sense, as a proposed geological epoch marked by anthropogenic signatures in the Earth's stratigraphy — such as plastics, radionuclides, and technofossils. This scientific debate provides the entry point for exploring how the Anthropocene also functions as a cultural and political narrative about human agency, responsibility, and planetary transformation.

The course then turns to its historical genealogies, tracing how philosophers, natural scientists, and writers — including Antonio Stoppani, Joseph Le Conte, George Perkins Marsh, and Vladimir I. Vernadsky — anticipated many of the questions now associated with the Anthropocene. Concepts like the Antropozoic, Psychozoic, and Noocene offer early formulations of the idea that human activities co-evolve with the biosphere and alter Earth’s functioning.

We will investigate how the Earth has been conceptualized as a self-organizing, integrated system, composed of interacting spheres (geosphere, biosphere, technosphere, etc.). Models such as Gaia theory and Earth System Science will be examined not only as scientific frameworks, but also as cultural imaginaries that shape how we perceive planetary change.

Throughout the course, students will explore how the Anthropocene has become a scenario-generating concept: one that informs projections of future risk — from mass extinction to nuclear winter and climate-induced disasters — and frames strategies for mitigation and adaptation. These scientific scenarios will be examined alongside their literary, visual, and popular cultural representations, often articulated through apocalyptic or speculative storytelling.

Finally, the course explores the institutional and epistemological infrastructures behind Anthropocene knowledge production. We will study the emergence of Earth System Science (ESS), global ecological modelling, and Cold War research initiatives such as the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), Man and the Biosphere (MAB), and Nuclear Winter modelling — all of which have shaped current forms of environmental governance.

By bridging scientific, historical, and cultural perspectives, this course aims to provide students with a critical, historically informed, and imaginative understanding of the Anthropocene — not only as a geological hypothesis, but as a challenge to how we think, narrate, and act in a time of planetary crisis.

Reading materials and texts will be extracted from essays and works by the various authors we will cover and will be made available on moodle a few months before the course begins. We therefore recommend that you register and log in to the platform on a regular basis.

The final assessment will consist of an oral exam and an in-class presentation to be delivered during the final weeks of the course. Students will be asked to engage critically with the course materials and develop a short individual project that demonstrates their understanding of the topics discussed.

oral

The grades range from 18 to 30

During the weekly lectures, we will read and comment on several texts that exemplify the heterogeneity of approaches, traditions, meanings, and discourses related to the Anthropocene and the various hypotheses about its beginning date. We will also discuss some artistic, visual, and multimedia representations to stimulate interdisciplinary reflection and class discussion. During the course we will also have opportunities to visit exhibitions, participate in outside workshops and, weather permitting, take field trips. A few sessions will be jointly held with Professor Bassi, providing a shared space of exchange between the two modules of the course.