Déborah Danowski

Om verdens ende kom ut på portugisisk i 2014 og har siden blitt oversatt til en rekke språk. Verket er enestående i sin kombinasjon av miljøfilosofi og radikal antropologi. Den globale miljøkrisen gjør det nødvendig å stille spørsmålet om hvorvidt verden kommer til å gå under. Déborah Danowski og Eduardo Viveiros de Castro diskuterer hva en verden egentlig er og hva verdens «ende» kan tenkes å innebære, både som forestilling og erfaring. Sett fra kolonitidens ofre sitt perspektiv, særlig regnskogsindianerne i Brasil, som bokstavelig talt har mistet sin verden - skogen - er verdens ende en reell historisk erfaring. Déborah Danowski (f. 1958) er professor i filosofi ved Pontifícia Universidade Católica i Rio de Janeiro. Hun er særlig opptatt av vår tids økologiske kollaps og har vært en pådriver for et globalt teoretisk og aktivistisk samarbeid knyttet til miljørettferdighet og økologisk politikk. Eduardo Viveiros de Castro (f. 1951) er professor i antropologi ved Universidade Federal i Rio de Janeiro. Han er særlig kjent for boka Metafísicas canibais (Kannibalmetafysikk), hvor han presenterer en radikal tolkning av livsopplevelsen og ontologien til amerindiske folkeslag.

The end of the world is a seemingly interminable topic Ð at least, of course, until it happens. Environmental catastrophe and planetary apocalypse are subjects of enduring fascination and, as ethnographic studies show, human cultures have approached them in very different ways. Indeed, in the face of the growing perception of the dire effects of global warming, some of these visions have been given a new lease on life. Information and analyses concerning the human causes and the catastrophic consequences of the planetary ‘crisis’ have been accumulating at an ever-increasing rate, mobilising popular opinion as well as academic reflection. In this book, philosopher Déborah Danowski and anthropologist Eduardo Viveiros de Castro offer a bold overview and interpretation of these current discourses on ‘the end of the world’, reading them as thought experiments on the decline of the West’s anthropological adventure Ð that is, as attempts, though not necessarily intentional ones, at inventing a mythology that is adequate to the present. This work has important implications for the future development of ecological practices and it will appeal to a broad audience interested in contemporary anthropology, philosophy, and environmentalism.

The end of the world is a seemingly interminable topic Ð at least, of course, until it happens. Environmental catastrophe and planetary apocalypse are subjects of enduring fascination and, as ethnographic studies show, human cultures have approached them in very different ways. Indeed, in the face of the growing perception of the dire effects of global warming, some of these visions have been given a new lease on life. Information and analyses concerning the human causes and the catastrophic consequences of the planetary ‘crisis’ have been accumulating at an ever-increasing rate, mobilising popular opinion as well as academic reflection. In this book, philosopher Déborah Danowski and anthropologist Eduardo Viveiros de Castro offer a bold overview and interpretation of these current discourses on ‘the end of the world’, reading them as thought experiments on the decline of the West’s anthropological adventure Ð that is, as attempts, though not necessarily intentional ones, at inventing a mythology that is adequate to the present. This work has important implications for the future development of ecological practices and it will appeal to a broad audience interested in contemporary anthropology, philosophy, and environmentalism.