CFP & Concept Note:
Humans are no longer biological agents of this planet. They have become geological agents in the Anthropocene era. What does this agentic transmutation imply? Since a ‘geological force has no sense of purpose or sovereignty’(Chakrabarty 2023: 33), how, then, are we supposed to re/configure ‘the human’ who is attributed with autonomy and freedom-seeking agency? Critical posthumanists, who argue for an inclusive way of thinking, might be tempted to rearticulate the normative conception of the human in the first place: who or what is anthropos? Perhaps, the ontic problem rests with the European Enlightenment modernity’s projection of the human, which now stands on an increasingly slippery ground. Bernard Stiegler, Bruno Latour, Michel Serres, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Donna Haraway argue for locating human in entanglements with nonhumans. Many of them even view human autonomy as the mankind’s self-created myth; and also argue that the human is always already entangled with nonhumans.
Despite the heated debate surrounding the term Anthropocene for promoting the return of white universal man, naturalizing tendency, colonial outlook and exclusivity, the term is nonetheless being used as an operative critical tool for interrogating and re-assessing our understanding of the existing relation between humans and nonhumans. Rather than pondering too much on the term’s limitations, it would be more profitable to think of the future produced by the mingling of human history and planetary history. It will be worthwhile to think about collaborative survival with other planetary cohabitants. As the humanity’s ecological footprint affect the trajectory of the Earth System, ‘humans now unintentionally straddle three histories (the history of the earth system, the history of life including that of human evolution on the planet, and the more recent history of the industrial civilization) that operate on different scales and at different speeds’ (Chakrabarty 2023: 89).
The collision of human and planetary temporalities calls for a new totalizing framework and requires a new way of thinking in the social sciences and humanities. In the Anthropocene, socio-cultural and political world orders get entangled with material and energy cycles of the Earth, which eventually co-produces a new (post)human condition. The Anthropocene pushes the boundaries of our existing disciplines to their limits and makes the social-only understanding ineffective.
The proposed conference also seeks to cite India’s G-20 presidency (2023) as an articulation, on a diplomatic level, of the theoretical premises of this conference. The pro-planet theme of India’s G20 presidency – “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”(the world is one family) – significantly seeks to recognise the entangled planetary existence, which embraces both the human and non-human. The emphasis on green and sustainable development, climate finance, ‘net-zero’ carbon reduction testifies to the fact that social-only understanding of human politics is no longer tenable. Incorporation of green elements in its conceptual construction was long overdue.
The proposed conference seeks to focus on, though not strictly limited to, the following areas:
• Re-figuring the anthropos in the Anthropocene
• Problems in Nomenclature: Anthropocene or Capitalocene
or Plantationocene or Homogenocene or Chthulucene?
• Anthropocentrism and its Discontents
• Thinking Through Harman’s ‘OOO’ in the Anthropocene
• Configuring New Onto-Epistemic System in the Anthropocene
• Planetary Crises and Planetary Solidarity in the Anthropocene
• Future of the Humanities and Social Sciences in the Anthropocene
• Greenhouse Culture in the Anthropocene
• Non-human Turn in the Anthropocene
• New Materialisms and the Anthropocene
• Posthumanities and the Anthropocene
• Animal Studies in the Anthropocene
• Plant Humanities and the Anthropocene
• Greening Democracy and International Relations
in the Anthropocene
• (Re)writing Cli-fi in the Anthropocene
• India’s G-20 Presidency and Green Diplomacy
• Plastic Pollution and E-/Waste Management in
the Anthropocene
• Populism and Climate Change Denial
• Re-thinking Carbon democracy in the Anthropocene
• Blue Humanities and the Anthropocene
• Global Climate Activism and Climate Solidarity in
the Anthropocene
[Suggestive Bibliography:
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. One Planet Many Worlds: The Climate Parallax. Brandeis UP, 2023.
Haraway, Donna. Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke UP, 2016.
Latour, Bruno. We Have Never Been Modern. Translated by Catherine Porter. Harvard UP, 1993.
Stiegler, Bernard. The Neganthropocene. Translated by Daniel Ross. Open Humanities Press, 2018.
Serres, Michel. The Parasite. Translated by Lawrence Schehr. U of Minnesota Press, 2007.]
Key Facts and Necessary Information:
Abstract might be sent to crpbku2.0@gmail.com in within 25.02.2024
(Participants are advised to send an abstract of about 200 words and a short bio-note in single word file. ‘CRP Conference
Submission 2024’ should be mentioned in the subject line of Gmail.)
Registration Form (Mandatory):
Time & dates of the conference: 02-03 March 2024; 09 am to 4 pm IST
Registration Fees:
Faculty: 2000 INR
Researcher and Students: 1500 INR
International Participants: 50 USD
Participation Fees: 800 INR
Fee Payment Details
G-pay/PhonePay: 9832850405
HDFC BANK
A/C- SUKHENDU DAS
Account Number: 50100174070610
IFSC: HDFC0002505, Branch: BANKURA, Account Type: SAVING
HDFC BANK
A/C- SUKHENDU DAS
Account Number: 50100174070610
IFSC: HDFC0002505, Branch: BANKURA, Account Type: SAVING
Registration fees cover conference kit, tea, snacks, working lunch on both days.
Publication Prospect: Select papers will be considered for an international publication after double-blind peer review process. However, the
discretion and recommendation of the peer-board will be considered final in this case.
Participants are advised to attend the conference in person. Virtual presentation slots are very limited and not open to all.
All queries relating to conference might be directed to the email id mentioned above.
