GSSC Seminar Series

20 January 2026

Locating the History of the Anthropocene: The Case of Brazil

 

José Augusto Pádua (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)

12:00-13:00

Although the debate on the Anthropocene has been suspended within the International Union of Geological Sciences, the concept continues to be used extensively. One reason for this is that it fills a conceptual void, since concepts such as modernity and globalization fail to capture the consequences of the dramatic change in the scale of human presence on the planet, especially since the mid-20th century. From a historical analysis perspective, one problem that arises is that the Anthropocene has been discussed mainly at a high level of aggregation, using global data. However, contrary to the standpoint of geological stratigraphy, major historical transformations do not happen all at once and in a worldwide uniform manner. Nor are they ever automatic. They occur differently in different places, involving concrete social actors and institutions. These transformations spread through exogenous and endogenous movements, producing conflicts, adherence, and resistance. Historical analysis, therefore, allows us to examine in a situated manner the socioeconomic and cultural processes that converged in the making of the global phenomenon of the Anthropocene. The challenge is to connect the macro view of the Anthropocene with the diverse concrete realities of human life, discussing how specific regions participated in the construction of the Anthropocene and experienced its consequences. This presentation aims to discuss the case of Brazil as a concrete example. Among the points to be examined are 1) the environmental history of the colonial making of its territory, marked by an archipelago of regional occupations surrounded by gigantic areas of wilderness; 2) the country's initially marginal participation in the world of industrial revolutions, except as a supplier of occasionally relevant natural products; 3) its strong entry into the so-called Great Acceleration after 1945, both as an exporter of primary resources and through the rapid and unbalanced transition of its society to patterns of production and consumption identified with the Anthropocene’s pattern, 5) the concrete prospects for Brazilian presence in the future of the Anthropocene, taking into account the global ecological importance of its territory and its current political and diplomatic dilemmas.

 José Augusto Pádua is professor of Brazilian Environmental History at the Institute of History, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where he is also coordinator of the History and Nature Laboratory. He is a member of the Global Faculty of the University of Cologne (Germany) for the period 2024-2025. Since 2025, he has been president of the Latin American and Caribbean Society for Environmental History (SOLCHA). He was part of the creation team and is a member of the scientific board of the Museum of Tomorrow, which opened in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.  As a specialist in environmental history and environmental policy, he has given lectures and courses, as well as participated in fieldworks, in more than forty-five countries. He has published and organized several books and articles, both in Brazil and abroad, including Land Use: Handbook of the Anthropocene in Latin America 1 (2024).