Abstract
This article investigates the internal dynamics of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), an expert body tasked with evaluating the stratigraphic case of the Anthropocene. The investigation focuses on the role of interdisciplinarity and disciplinarity in the AWG. The article draws on surveys and interviews with AWG members to characterize interdisciplinary collaboration in the AWG and discusses the relationship of the AWG to the stratigraphic community. The results reveal that the exchanges between disciplines in the AWG are ‘multidisciplinary’ and of limited scope. While social scientists in the group take a non-scientific role, the involvement of natural scientists in research activities is guided by the objectives of stratigraphy. Moreover, a lack of communication and trust had shaped the relationship between the AWG and the stratigraphic community until they devised pragmatic working arrangements that led the AWG to adapt its research practice and rationale. Despite calls to reform stratigraphic practice, the disciplinarity of the AWG prevails over innovative research practices inspired by interdisciplinary exchanges. In terms of theory, the study confirms that disciplines continue to provide the context in which interdisciplinary endeavors need to position themselves. Notwithstanding the pull of interdisciplinarity, the AWG’s main point of reference remains the stratigraphic community.
Highlights
As applications of the term multiply, the Anthropocene is becoming a keyword in debates about contemporary environmental change
The analysis presented in this article has focused on the question how interdisciplinarity and disciplinarity affect the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG)
This question is salient because the stratigraphic community, during a period of widespread advocacy for more interdisciplinary research on the Anthropocene, has disagreed about the value of stratigraphic research on the Anthropocene generally and the research conducted by the interdisciplinary group of researchers that comprises the AWG
Summary
As applications of the term multiply, the Anthropocene is becoming a keyword in debates about contemporary environmental change. Ever since the idea was raised in the Earth system sciences to describe the extension of resource exploitation by humans (Crutzen and Stoermer 2000), many other fields of studying socio-ecological systems have embraced the term. They include biology (Kidwell 2015), anthropology (Gibson and Venkateswar 2015), literary studies (Clark 2015), and social theory (Delanty and Mota 2017). This article fills this gap by analyzing the research practice of the AWG
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