Contribution long abstract:

Caste in the Anthropocene: Interrogating Anthropocene in South Asia

Since its inception two decades ago, the Anthropocene proposal has become one of the most influential ideas and defining concepts of our age. Highlighting significant evidence, the proposal suggested that human activities have started to have a significant planetary impact on the earth’s climate and ecosystems. Though Anthropocene is yet to be officially recognized by the International Union of Geological Science (IUGS), the international body that officially names and define the epochs, it has become one of the most influential ideas of our times. Subsequently, critical debates emerged as Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene and the black Anthropocene, etc. This paper engages caste, more than 3000 years old Indian system of hierarchy and exploitation that govern nearly one fifth of the world’s population, and ask what does it mean to be in the Anthropocene for caste societies? Drawing from the histories of global castes, ecology, political economy, climate vulnerability and emissions of caste this article inaugurates an introductory inquiry into caste in the Anthropocene. The article seeks for a caste inclusive Anthropocene from the Indian Subcontinent and beyond.

Ajmal Khan A.T is a post-doctoral fellow at the South Asia Institute, Harvard University.