Future Remains: a cabinet of curiosities for the Anthropocene (new book!)

Another great looking new book, from University of Chicago Press, with a slate of well regarded contributors.

Future Remains: a cabinet of curiosities for the Anthropocene

Edited by: Gregg Mitman, Marco Armiero, Robert S. Emmett

Description:

What can a pesticide pump, a jar full of sand, or an old calico print tell us about the Anthropocene—the age of humans? Just as paleontologists look to fossil remains to infer past conditions of life on earth, so might past and present-day objects offer clues to intertwined human and natural histories that shape our planetary futures. In this era of aggressive hydrocarbon extraction, extreme weather, and severe economic disparity, how might certain objects make visible the uneven interplay of economic, material, and social forces that shape relationships among human and nonhuman beings?

Future Remains is a thoughtful and creative meditation on these questions. The fifteen objects gathered in this book resemble more the tarots of a fortuneteller than the archaeological finds of an expedition—they speak of planetary futures. Marco Armiero, Robert S. Emmett, and Gregg Mitman have assembled a cabinet of curiosities for the Anthropocene, bringing together a mix of lively essays, creatively chosen objects, and stunning photographs by acclaimed photographer Tim Flach. The result is a book that interrogates the origins, implications, and potential dangers of the Anthropocene and makes us wonder anew about what exactly human history is made of.

Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface
Gregg Mitman, Marco Armiero, and Robert S. Emmett

The Anthropocene: The Promise and Pitfalls of an Epochal Idea
Rob Nixon

Hubris

• Anthropocene in a Jar
Tomas Matza and Nicole Heller
• Concretes Speak
Rachel Harkness, Cristián Simonetti, and Judith Winter
• The Age of (a) Man
Joseph Masco
• The Manual Pesticide Spray Pump
Michelle Mart and Cameron Muir

• Hubris or Humility: Genealogies of the Anthropocene
Gregg Mitman

Living and Dying

• Huia Echoes
Julianne Lutz Warren
• Snarge
Gary Kroll
• Marine Animal Satellite Tags
Nils Hanwahr
• Artificial Coral Reef
Josh Wodak
• Freezing Life in the Anthropocene
Elizabeth Hennessy

• Racism and the Anthropocene
Laura Pulido

• Sabotaging the Anthropocene; or, In the Praise of Mutiny
Marco Armiero

Laboring

• On Possibility; or, The Monkey Wrench
Daegan Miller
• The German Calico Quilt
Bethany Wiggin

• Anthropocene Aesthetics
Robert S. Emmett

Making

• The Mirror—Testing the Counter-Anthropocene
Sverker Sörlin
• Objects from Anna Schwartz’s Cabinet of Curiosities
Judit Hersko
• Technofossil
Jared Farmer
• Davies Creek Road
Trisha Carroll and Mandy Martin

Anthropocene Cabinets of Curiosity: Objects of Strange Change
Libby Robin