Comments by José Manuel Mendes (FEUC Director/ CES researcher) and the presence of Carlota Simões (director of the Coimbra University Press Director) and Catarina Martins (CES collection Director).

Synopsis

What does it mean to inhabit a planet in the midst of a climate and environmental crisis? This book develops an ontological approach to studying the Anthropocene, a geological epoch proposed to illustrate the inseparability between human activities (such as greenhouse gas emissions) and planetary phenomena such as global warming. The book is the result of a research project carried out at the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra entitled “TROPO - Anthropocenic Ontologies in Portugal: social movements, public policies and emerging technologies”.
The ontological approach presents the Anthropocene(s) as a conflict between different ways of responding to the climate and environmental crisis, including activism, hegemonic policies for energy transition, lithium extraction, climate manipulation technologies or even the reconfigurations of subjectivity - and the social sciences - to allow for more robust articulations between human and more-than-human agency.

About the Author

António Carvalho works as an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra. Until January 2023 he was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Studies, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. Between 2018-2022 he was the Principal Investigator of TROPO: Anthropocenic Ontologies in Portugal - Social Movements, Public Policies and Emerging Technologies. He is co-director of the Doctoral Programme in 'Governance, Knowledge, and Innovation', of the Master's Degree in Social Dynamics, Natural and Technological Risks and the coordinator of the Risk Observatory (OSIRIS). He belongs to the editorial board of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais. Between 2022-2024 he was a member of CES' Ethics Committee. His current research interests include Biopolitics, the Anthropocene and more-than-human ontologies. His work has been published in journals such as Public Understanding of Science, Energy Research & Social Science, Minerva, Social Movement Studies and The Sociological Review. In 2024 he published the book "Antropoceno(s): crise climática, ontologia e o social" (Anthropocene(s): climate crisis, ontology and the social", edited by Coimbra Press University.