El debate sobre el Antropoceno como oportunidad para repensar la Geografía y su enseñanza

Abstract

he notion of the Anthropocene as a geological epoch where Humankind has become a key influential force on Earth’s biophysical dynamics addresses directly to Geography, which has historically defined itself as a science focused on the study of the interaction between Society and Nature. Although Anglo-American geography has already reflected on the implications for Geography of the acceptance of the Anthropocene thesis, there is little analysis of this issue in Spain. This paper argues that, in such anthropocenic context, it is no longer possible to consider that Society is subordinated to the rule of Nature, as it was assumed by classical Geography. On the contrary, social processes are nowadays an overarching factor in the construction of territory due to the technical capacity developed by Humankind to affect the behaviour of Earth systems. This new perspective has implications for the teaching, research and applied practice of Geography which are discussed in this paper, and which can be synthesised in the need to place territorial processes at the centre of teaching, of research, and of the design of intervention policies.