Mississippi. An Anthropocene River 2018–19
Field Stations
River School
River Journey
River Campus
The Mississippi region presents a remarkable landscape for understanding the rapid shift into what scientists and humanists are calling the Anthropocene—the geological epoch of humankind. Over the course of a year, Mississippi. An Anthropocene River (2018–19) explored how the river—as ecology and human habitat—has been reshaped over time, understanding its present as a product of a history of human-environmental interaction, but also violent intervention.
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- contribution
In Situ Anthropocene
What can the Mississippi River Valley teach us about how to read the planetary shifts of the Anthropocene through its local waterways and landscapes?
Case Study, Conversation, Engagement, Experiment, Field Study, Field Work, Teaching, Intervention, Reflection, Storytelling, Sensing
- contributionJoe Underhill
Navigating the Anthropocene River
On immersive, field-based education and an exploration of the (dis)comforts of an approach Anthropocene River Travelers describe as “being at home-in-the-world.”
Teaching, Storytelling, Reflection, Field Work, Engagement, Sensing, Education, Agency, Habits, Knowledge infrastructure, Knowledge production, Water, Wisdom
- projectAnthropocene Working Group
AWG Mississippi Essays
Essays from members of the AWG and other researchers discussing some of the crucial aspects that make the Mississippi River an icon of global Anthropocene transformations.
Monitoring, Case Study, Field Work, Experiment, Mapping, Modeling, Biosphere, Carbon, Ecology, Water, Holocene, Stratigraphy
- contributionJamie Allen, Temporary continent.
Head Waters at the Headwaters
The Mississippi’s touristically designated “source” remains a fixture on maps of North American territory and collective cultural consciousness, as this text, video, and audio post explores.
Experiment, Reflection, Storytelling, Sound, Aesthetics, Knowledge production, Media
- contributionJamie Allen, Temporary continent.
Pictured Journeys, Experiences of Descriptions: Tracing ways down the Mississippi
On the privilege of the storyteller and making visible the various contradictions inherent within efforts to bridge gaps and communicate “what happened” during the Anthropocene River Journey.
Storytelling, Reflection, Field Work, Human-environment relations, Imaginary, Knowledge production, Media
- contributionRegan Golden, Temporary continent.
Immersion from the Observation Deck
Regan Golden proposes the observation deck at the Visitor Center of St. Anthony as a space for thinking about one’s relationship with—and detachment from—landscape.
Sensing, Reflection, Field Work, Engineering, Infrastructure, Human-environment relations, Urbanism
- contributionAmy Lesen, Catherine Russell, Thomas Turnbull
Interview: Clashing Temporalities
In this interview, Thomas Turnbull, Catherine Russell and Amy Lesen discuss their research perspectives on “Clashing Temporalities,” which was the topic of a seminar taking place within the framework of the Anthropocene River Campus, 2019.
Conversation, Reflection
- contributionAron Chang, Jelagat Cheruiyot, Jorg Sieweke
Interview: Un/bounded Engineering and Evolutionary Stability
In this interview, Dorothy Cheruiyot, Aron Chang and Jorg Sieweke discuss their research perspectives on “(Un)bounded Engineering and Evolutionary Stability,” which was the topic of a seminar taking place within the framework of the Anthropocene River Campus, 2019.
Conversation, Reflection
- contributionMonica Moses Haller, Monique Verdin
Interview: Exhaustion and Imagination
How could the exhausted landscapes and ways of living of the Mississippi Delta be approached by learning to trust in sources of collective imagination?
Conversation, Reflection
- projectEmily Knudson, Joe Underhill
River Semester
Over the course of eighty days, this canoe expedition offers an immersive research program on and along the Mississippi River.
Teaching, Education, Water, Ecology, Disciplinarity, Embodiment, Engagement, Perception
- contributionLynn Peemoeller
Edible Encounters
Exploring niches of ecological autonomy through a series of food encounters.
Field Work, Engagement, Biodiversity, Agriculture, Food
- projectJohn Kim
Data Sensing
A home-built device travels downstream to explore the limits of digital representation and the possibilities of uncertain knowledge.
Teaching, Storytelling, Monitoring, Sensing, Data, Big data, Epistemology, Knowledge infrastructure, Water, Technoscience
- contributionAndrea Carlson, Amina Harper
Anthropocene Refusal
The end of mankind is almost over: a short film on de-colonized futures.
Film, Experiment, Extinction, Race, Settler Colonialism, Imaginary, Speculative, Disaster, Anthropos, Future
- projectRozalinda Borcilă, Nicholas Brown, Ryan Griffis, Sarah Kanouse, Sam Muñoz, Heather Parrish, Corinne Teed
Over the Levee, Under the Plow: An experiential curriculum
What does it mean to become a responsible guest? This set of field guides and accompanying exercises offer an adaptable tool for the uninvited traveler.
Case Study, Storytelling, Engagement, Knowledge production, Local knowledge
- contributionJennifer Colten, Jesse Vogler
Significant and Insignificant Mounds: an Essay
Deciphering the cosmology of artificial hills—from the Cahokia Mounds to the slag heaps of today.
Storytelling, Landscape, Deep time, History, Local knowledge, Anthropology, Colonialism
- projectJeremy Bolen, Brian Holmes, Brian Kirkbride
Born Secret
A mythologized Uranium enrichment facility in Honeywell sets the scene for radioisotopes that are key markers for determining the Anthropocene.
Storytelling, Radioactivity, Speculative, Imaginary, Energy, Sedimentation
- projectAbbéy Odunlami, Jared Richardson
Broadcasting Live from… Field Station 5
A narrative-based podcast that discusses how geography determines many people’s relationship to resources, land, and wellbeing.
Storytelling, Sound, Case Study, Water, Spatial, Urbanism, Equality, Economy, Capitalism, Local knowledge, Environmental Justice, Race
- Field Notesimon.turner
#17148
London, United Kingdom
Storytelling, Field Study, Field Work, Experiment, Deep time, Erosion, Flood, History, Human-environment relations, Imaginary, Landscape, Sedimentation
- Field Noteipgray
#15916
Louisiana, USA
Carbon, Climate change, Commodities, Energy, Pollution
- Field Notet.simone.gaClaims and Property
My great-great grandmother was property. A fetish commodity and the technology through which other humans and public and private enterprises accelerated this anthropocenic epoch. Having at one time been property, today was extremely heavy. Not only the moving through the city but that one of our group members could not be accommodated and therefore could not move with us. Value valuelessness confinement disposability. I find myself a bit stuck tonight. I hope that we can see the lingering and far reaching effects of racial capitalism and its relationship to the Anthropocene. I hope that we see the the racism and ableism within the environmental injustices we witness and participate in. I hope we see that New Orleans is here but that New Orleans is also everywhere.#15581
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
- Field Notetturnbull
#14068
Fulton County, Kentucky, USA
Sensing, Field Work, Sound, Conversation, Affect, River journey, Barge
- Field Notetemporarycontinent
#12307
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Anthropos, Architecture, Deep time, Ecology, Engineering, Extinction, Infrastructure, Settler Colonialism, Indigenous Rights, Dakota, Fieldstation, Colonialism, Temporary Continent, 2019, Andrea Carlson
- Field Noteneli.wagner
#8305
Mississippi Headwaters, Minnesota, USA
Habits, Representation
