The Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS) aims at putting the research result from its Laboratory of Knowledge “The Anthropocene as a Multiple Crisis. Perspectives from Latin America” into dialogue with distinguished scholars from other world regions.

This Platform for Dialogue focuses on presenting and discussing the diverse topics of the Handbook The Anthropocene as Multiple Crisis. An important part of the project is its line on visual representations of the Anthropocene. Therefore, the evening program of the conference includes an exclusive screening of the the documentary Anthropos by film maker Miguel Sánchez. In addition, an art exhibition will present the work of the Mexican artist Fernando Efraín Sandoval who is the creator of the captivating cover art of the CALAS handbook series.  

The contributions to the six-volume Handbook The Anthropocene as Multiple Crisis: Perspectives from Latin America think about the Anthropocene from a particular region of the Global South:  The handbook offers a platform to discuss the multiple “anthropocenic” socio-environmental crises from a specifically Latin American point of view, without losing sight of their global and planetary dimensions. The objective is to systematize, from the perspective of Latin American social sciences and humanities, the multifaceted environmental crises that reached and crossed the planetary boundaries of the earth-systems and led to the new geological time of the Anthropocene. In doing so, it generates an empirical basis for the genealogy of the Anthropocene in so far under-researched global region with key regional and historical differentiations.

The main editors of the handbook series will present the overall research project, whereas the editors of each volume will present their specific topics which are based on the identified planetary boundaries (Land Use; Biodiversity; Climate Change, Mining and Energy; Water; Images of the Anthropocene) and discuss them with scholars from Anthropocene research, other Merian Centers, Area Studies and Bielefeld University. An evening panel invites representatives of each Merian Center and colleagues from the Global South to discuss the Anthropocene from a global perspective in regard to their specific regions.

Key concerns to be addressed are: Is it useful to regionalize the Anthropocene from other regions as well? What about the planetary dimension and aspects? How is this field conceivable between the different disciplines?

The conference is scheduled to take place from February 17 to 18, 2025, at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF), Bielefeld University’s Institute for Advanced Study and the model center after which the CALAS was structured.