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This is a presentation and song performance of “Dream of the Anthropocene,” a song that came to me during the first pandemic year

(Dansk version længere nede)

It was sparked by a personal story involving my child and health system care challenges during lockdown. The song develops from there to ask questions more broadly, and critically, about ‘the Anthropocene,’ proposed by Eugene Stoermer and Paul Crutzen as a geological designation recognizing that humanity wields geological force. How did we get here, and “how do we connect if everything is broken?”

I sing about a dream of a different future Anthropocene, and this song is an encouragement to ‘collaboratively witness’ (Carolyn Ellis) that there’s ‘Life in you and I, in the water, Earth, and Sky,’ and to proceed into our joint futures without ‘dreams of mastery’ (Achille Mbembe) of each other, of nature, but to acknowledge our interconnectedness and stop perpetuating viscous circles.

(This song was presented at the International Conference of Autoethnography (Bristol/online) 2021: http://boomerang-project.org.uk/meet-presenters/)

// DK //

Dream of the Anthropocene

Videoen herover giver først en præsentation og dernæst en live version af “Dream of the Anthropocene”

Sangen blev skrevet i løbet af Corona-epidemiens første år, inspireret af en personlig oplevelse med et sygt barn og udfordringer med at navigere i sundhedsvæsenets og egne grænser under lockdown.

Derfra stiller sangen spørgsmål i bredere og mere kritisk forstand omkring det at leve i det ”Antropocæne”, som er blevet foreslået af Eugen Sturmer og Paul Crutzen som betegnelse for vores tidsalder.

Det antropocæne markerer, at menneskeden har indflydelse på planetens systemer, i en grad så vi ændrer dem, og det kan måles geologisk. Hvordan kom det her til? Og “how do we connect if everything is broken?”

Jeg synger her om drømmen om en anderledes antropocæn fremtid, en opfordring til sammen at bære vidne om (‘collaboratively witness’ (Carolyn Ellis)), at der er ‘Life in you and I, in the water, Earth, and Sky,’ og at vi bevæger os ind i vores fælles fremtid uden ‘dreams of mastery’ (Achille Mbembe). Altså uden drømme om herredømme over hinanden, over naturen, men at vi forsøger at anerkende vores indbyrdes forbundethed, og at vi stopper uhensigtsmæssige handlemønstre, der bliver ved at køre i ring.

(Sangen blev præsenteret og fremført ved International Conference of Autoethnography (Bristol/onlin) 2021: http://boomerang-project.org.uk/meet-presenters/)