“Hic Rhodus, hic salta!”: Postcolonial remains and the politics of the anthropo-ob(s)cene

Abstract

We use postcolonial theory to interrogate the discourse of “the Anthropocene” and its depoliticizing effects. It is maintained that the way that “the Anthropocene” discourse has been articulated within parts of postcolonial theory is deeply problematic and risks making the political itself categorically unthinkable and ontologically evacuated. In an attempt to disrupt this deadlock, we combine post-foundational and postcolonial theory to propose three performative interruptions against conditions of exclusion—the politics of time, the politics of translation, and the politics of the stage. These build a platform to re-launch the political performativity of subaltern experiences in the here and now.