Imagining Apocalyptic Politics in the Anthropocene Bringing together scholars from English literature, geography, politics, the arts, environmental humanities and sociology, Imagining Apocalyptic Poli- tics in the Anthropocene contributes to the emerging debate between bodies of thought frst incepted by scholars such as Mouffe, Whyte, Kaplan, Hunt, Swyngedouw and Malm about how apocalyptic events, narratives and im- aginaries interact with societal and individual agency historically and in the current political moment. Exploring their own empirical and p hilosophical contexts, the authors examine the forms of political acting found in apoca- lyptic imaginaries and refect on what this means for contemporary society. By framing their arguments around either pre- apocalyptic, peri- apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic narratives and events, a timeline emerges throughout the volume which shows the different opportunities for political agency the an- thropocenic subject can enact at the various stages of apocalyptic moments. Featuring a number of creative interventions exclusively produced for the work from artists and fction writers who engage with the themes of apoc- alypse, decline, catastrophe and disaster, this innovative book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the politics of climate change, the environmental humanities, literary criticism and eco-criticism. Earl T. Harper is an Independent Scholar. Doug Specht is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Media and Communica- tion at the University of Westminster, UK. Routledge Environmental Humanities Series editors: Scott Slovic (University of Idaho, USA), Joni Adamson (Arizona State University, USA) and Yuki Masami (Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan) Editorial Board Christina Alt, St Andrews University, UK Alison Bashford, University of New South Wales, Australia Peter Coates, University of Bristol, UK Thom van Dooren, University of New South Wales, Australia Georgina Endfeld, Liverpool, UK Jodi Frawley, University of Sydney, Australia Andrea Gaynor, The University of Western Australia, Australia Christina Gerhardt, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, USA Tom Lynch, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA Iain McCalman, Australian Catholic University, Australia Jennifer Newell, Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia Simon Pooley, Imperial College London, UK Sandra Swart, Stellenbosch University, South Africa Ann Waltner, University of Minnesota, US Jessica Weir, University of Western Sydney, Australia The Routledge Environmental Humanities series is an original and inspiring venture recognising that today’s world agricultural and water crises, ocean pollution and resource depletion, global warming from greenhouse gases, urban sprawl, overpopulation, food insecurity and environmental justice are all crises of culture. The reality of understanding and fnding adaptive solutions to our pres- ent and future environmental challenges has shifted the epicenter of en- vironmental studies away from an exclusively scientifc and technological framework to one that depends on the human-focused disciplines and ideas of the humanities and allied social sciences. We thus welcome book proposals from all humanities and social sciences disciplines for an inclusive and interdisciplinary series. We favour man- uscripts aimed at an international readership and written in a lively and accessible style. The readership comprises scholars and students from the humanities and social sciences and thoughtful readers concerned about the human dimensions of environmental change. For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/ Routledge-Environmental-Humanities/book-series/REH Imagining Apocalyptic Politics in the Anthropocene Edited by Earl T. Harper and Doug Specht First published 2022 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Earl T. Harper and Doug Specht; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Earl T. Harper and Doug Specht to be identifed as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Harper, Earl T., editor. | Specht, Doug, editor. Title: Imagining apocalyptic politics in the Anthropocene / edited by Earl T. Harper and Doug Specht. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Series: Routledge environmental humanities | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifers: LCCN 2021015613 (print) | LCCN 2021015614 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367653095 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367653125 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003128854 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Apocalypse in literature. | Apocalypse in mass media. | Politics in literature. | Human ecology and the humanities. | Fiction—History and criticism. | LCGFT: Literary criticism. Classifcation: LCC PN56.A69 I43 2022 (print) | LCC PN56.A69 (ebook) | DDC 809/.933582—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021015613 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021015614 ISBN: 978-0-367-65309-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-65312-5 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-12885-4 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003128854 Typeset in Times New Roman by codeMantra Contents List of fgures vii List of contributors ix Introduction: … these unprecedented times 1 EARL T. HARPER AND DOUG SPECHT 1 They say “our house is on fre” – on the climate emergency and (new) Earth politics 15 EDWARD H. HUIJBENS AND MARTIN GREN 2 Do not go gentle into that good night: contested narratives and political subjectivities in the Anthropocene 34 CARLOS TORNEL AND AAPO LUNDEN 3 The end of worlding: indigenous cosmologies in the Anthropocene 58 MARIANA REYES-CARRANZA 4 Apocalypse repeated: the absence of the indigenous subject in George Turner’s The Sea and Summer (1987) 76 CHARLOTTE LANCASTER 5 Apocalyptic literary geographies: The Tempest’s ‘brave new world,’ Frankenstein’s ‘modern Prometheus’ and Cloud-Atlas’ ‘furthest-seein’ eye’ 93 CHARLES TRAVIS 6 A world without bodies: geotrauma and the work of mourning in Jorie Graham’s Fast 109 PHILIP JONES vi Contents 7 Meaningful life at the end of  times: ageism and the duty-to-die in Logan’s Run 123 JAMES A. TYNER 8 The catastrophic drive 142 LUCAS POHL AND SAMO TOMŠIČ 9 The self(ie) in the Anthropocene 158 DOUG SPECHT AND CAT SNYDER 10 Urbicide in the Anthropocene: imagining Miami futures 173 STEPHANIE WAKEFIELD 11 Triggering the apparitions: spectres of chemical seascapes 189 MARÍA SOLEDAD CASTRO VARGAS AND DIANA BARQUERO PÉREZ 12 Study for “Memories of the apocalypse” 201 CARL CHRISTIAN OLSSON 13 Variegated environmental apocalypses: post-politics, the contestatory, and an eco-precariat manifesto for a radical apocalyptics 213 TRISTAN STURM AND NICHOLAS FERRIS LUSTIG Index 235 Figures 9.1 Networks of those tweeting about climate change. Selfes were most likely to be posted by those in the outer circle, with no ties to the rest of the network 166 11. 1 Altered photograph from Carlos Flores’s personal photo archive, 2018 189 11. 2 Altered photograph from Diana Barquero’s personal photo archive, 2018 190 11. 3 Altered photograph from Gonzalo Iglesias’s personal photo archive, 2018 191 11. 4 Altered photograph from Oscar Jara’s personal photo archive, 2018 192 11. 5 Altered photograph from Gonzalo Iglesias’s personal photo archive, 2018 193 11. 6 Altered photograph from Soledad Castro’s personal photo archive, 2018 193 11. 7 Altered photograph from Laia d’Armengol’s personal photo archive, 2018 194 11. 8 Altered photograph from Daniela Mora’s personal photo archive, 2018 195 11. 9 Altered photograph from Oscar Jara’s personal photo archive, 2018 196 11. 10 Altered photograph from Soledad Castro’s personal photo archive, 2018 197 11. 11 Altered photograph from Sara Granata’s personal photo archive, 2018 197 11. 12 Altered photograph from Sara Granata’s personal archive, 2018 198 Contributors Martin Gren  is an Associate Professor in Human Geography at the Linnaeus University, Sweden. He has a long-standing interest in the discipline the- ory of human geography, which has included works on the geographies of Torsten Hägerstrand and Gunnar Olsson. Martin’s current focus is on the (re)conceptualization of the Earth in the context of the Anthropo- cene, the new climatic regime and the climate emergency. Martin is the author and editor of several books, including Tourism and the Anthropo- cene, the frst volume that exposes tourism to the Anthropocene, and GO: On the Geographies of Gunnar Olsson. Earl T. Harper  is an Independent Scholar with no academic affliation. He completed his PhD study on apocalyptic narratives of climate change and their infuence on ecological gentrifcation in Western European cit- ies at Bristol University in 2020. He is currently a Signaller with Network Rail and can often be found on the footplate of steam locomotives on the UK’s mainline railway network. Edward H. Huijbens  (b. 1976) is a geographer and graduate of Durham Uni- versity, England. He chairs Wageningen University’s research group in cultural geography. Edward works on spatial theory, issues of regional development, landscape perceptions and the role of transport in tourism and polar tourism. He has authored over 40 articles in several scholarly journals and edited volumes, published three monographs in both Ice- land and internationally, and has co-edited four books. Philip Jones  received his PhD in 2018 for his thesis “Rewriting the Atlantic Archipelago: Modern British Poetry at the Coast.” He has written on power, gender and watery embodiment in the work of Wendy Mulford, Frances Presley and Carol Watts, as well as on representations of atomic agency in the poetry of Robert Minhinnick. He has taught at Oxford Brookes University and the University of Nottingham. Charlotte Lancaster  is a PhD Candidate in the Environmental Humanities at Bath Spa University. Her research focuses on representations of fooding and other “natural disasters” in Anglophone fction from the nineteenth