- Evan Graham
- Jenny Magnus
- Oliver Sann
- Julia Sharpe
- Shawn Michelle Smith
- Ellie Tse
- Guanyu Xu
- Viviana de la Rosa
In Search of Freedom in the Anthropocene
Entangled histories
With its origins in a class—entitled “Freedom”—that took place at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2018, this micro-publication gathers essays, sketches, case studies, and propositions on the conditions of freedom as a political concept in the Anthropocene. If freedom can still exist, “despite a flawed genealogy entrenched in coercive imperialisms and privileges for the few,” write Oliver Sann and Shawn Michelle Smith in their introduction, “it must be reconceived as an agency entangled with others and with the planet itself.” Part of the Deep Time Chicago pamphlet series.
Evan Graham, Jenny Magnus, Viviana de la Rosa, Oliver Sann, Julia Sharpe, Shawn Michelle Smith, Ellie Tse and Guanyu Xu, “In Search of Freedom in the Anthropocene: entangled histories,” Deep Time Chicago Pamphlet Series, 2019.
Download (52 Pages)What constitutes freedom? And whose freedom is it? How has freedom changed historically and how does “freedom to” coexist with “freedom from”? How and why have universal theories of freedom been historically practiced as the privileges of the few, even as many proclaim that nobody can be free until everyone is free? […]
The arrival of the Anthropocene also coincides with the era of demands for “universal freedom,” in which Western philosophers defined freedom against nature and political theorists defined liberty against tyranny. European freedom and liberty, however, were linked to and dependent upon European imperialism, settler colonialism in the Americas, transat- lantic African slavery, and Asian contract labor. According to Lisa Lowe, colonialism, slavery, and contract labor provided the conditions under which the universality of human freedom was conceived, precisely as it was denied to enslaved, colonized, and indigenous peoples.
Extract from Evan Graham, Jenny Magnus, Viviana de la Rosa, Oliver Sann, Julia Sharpe, Shawn Michelle Smith, Ellie Tse and Guanyu Xu, “In Search of Freedom in the Anthropocene: entangled histories,” Deep Time Chicago Pamphlet Series, 2019.
