Big questions in the Anthropocene

Abstract

Embedding the Anthropocene as a concept in university curricula is essential for preparing students for their future. Different disciplines have vastly different perspectives on the Anthropocene, while the term pops up in different guises across curricula, leaving students with vague notions of what it constitutes. We aim for a course integrating and contrasting these different disciplinary perspectives in order to arrive at a richer understanding of its complexity, at the same time making the Anthropocene tangible and concrete. In our Liberal Arts and Science programme, we offer for the 3rd consecutive year a 6 credits mandatory course that specifically invites students from all disciplines to explore the Anthropocene. We identify three essential concepts that we discuss in-depth from different disciplinary angles. These concepts include Nature, Human and Anthropocene interactions