Sharing the Anthropocene: 2016 Doreen Massey Annual Event

Tuesday, 22 March 2016, 10:30 - 18:00

The Open University in London (Region 1), 1-11 Hawley Crescent, Camden Town, London, NW1 8NP or participate online.

The OpenSpace Research Centre is delighted to invite participants to the 2016 Doreen Massey annual event, this year titled 'Sharing the Anthropocene'. This event, which builds on conversations begun at the RGS IBG in 2015, will be held at the OU's Camden offices in London on 22 March 2016. Please share this invitation with interested colleagues within and beyond academic geography.

Places are limited and registration is essential. For more information and details on how to register, please visit http://www.open.ac.uk/researchcentres/osrc/events/sharing-the-anthropocene-2016-doreen-massey-annual-event or contact [log in to unmask].

Sharing the Anthropocene: Concept note

The Anthropocene is now our shared condition we are told. But what does that mean for those seeking to engage with socio-ecological challenges across the planet? Does the epic style of the Anthropocene narrative invite only planetary scale technological responses, leaving other sorts of interventions figured as inadequate in comparison? Or, on the contrary, does the Anthropocene serve to highlight the inextricable entanglement of natures and cultures and thus different models of response/ability? Working out how to share the Anthropocene will require reflecting on both what stories of sharing we think and research, and how and with whom we engage in sharing stories. What kind of geographies (Earth writing), in other words, for what sort of Anthropocene?

The following speakers and titles are confirmed:

Dr Petr Jehlicka: Rendering the actually existing sharing economy visible: social networks, non-market exchanges and sustainable practice in Europe's semi-periphery; Dr Nigel Clark: 'The Smiths': pyrotechnic commons for a stratified planet; Dr Helen Jarvis: Stories of Sharing: informal, ordinary, secret and utopian; Dr Bradon Smith; Dr Sam Solnick: Dude, it's snowing on my iPhone 8: Telling (ourselves) stories about the Anthropocene; Dr Renata Tyszczuk; Tim Mitchell; Dr Kathryn Yusoff: Planetary responsibility; Dr Beth Greenhough: Contagion and infectious agency; Dr David Humphreys; and Dr George Revill.

We are particularly pleased to welcome the following speakers to contribute throughout the day and to lead the discussion in the plenary sessions.

Andrew Simms: An active campaigner and a fellow of the New Economics Foundation, where he was previously policy director. He is an influential and creative thinker, and a phrasemaker whose work has introduced terms like 'Ghost Town Britain' and 'Tescopoly' into the everyday lexicon as part of his work on consumption and quality of life in town and cities. His interest in the Anthropocene is rooted in his current work on the interface of economics and the environment, exemplified by his recent book, Cancel the Apocalypse: The New Path to Prosperity.

Isabel Hilton: A London-based international journalist with particular expertise in Chinese affairs, Isabel has worked with The Guardian, The Independent, the Sunday Times and the New Yorker. She is currently CEO and editor the bilingual online publication, ChinaDialogue, which is based in London and Beijing. ChinaDialogue works to efface barriers between east and west, promoting a common understanding that will better able all the world's citizens to address the global problems of environmental degradation.

For more information and details on how to register, please visit http://www.open.ac.uk/researchcentres/osrc/events/sharing-the-anthropocene-2016-doreen-massey-annual-event or contact [log in to unmask].

Dr. Olly Zanetti
www.ollyzanetti.co.uk