The nature-cultural Memory in the Anthropocene – Archives, Literatures and Media of Earth History

该项目旨在首次提出人类世的自然-文化记忆理论，并在此基础上调查文学和媒体如何作为自然--文化档案和地球历史的媒体发挥作用。人类世概念将人类视为全球占主导地位的地球物理力量，自2010年左右也被确立为一种文化概念。通过将人类历史和地球历史结合在一起，它有助于对人类的新的自我理解。在这一过程中，地球历史档案(如冰芯、沉积层)作为地质深部时代视野中人类历史新叙事的锚点发挥着重要作用。以前的文化记忆研究严格地在自然-文化分野的认识论界限内工作，而将地球历史和自然档案融入公共和政治话语需要更广泛的文化记忆概念化。该项目对环境人文科学的跨学科研究领域做出了贡献，解决了科学实践、机构和各种媒体的表现过程如何被构建为共同构成人类特性的框架的问题。因此，该项目追求三个目标：(1)自然-文化记忆理论的形成将有助于文化记忆研究的扩展；(2)从多学科的人类世话语对自然-文化档案的科学文本进行话语分析调查将有助于理解自然-文化解释力的构成；(3)对自然-文化记忆过程中的不同表现方式进行文学、知识-诗学和媒介美学分析将调查地球-历史取向知识是如何构成和传播的，以此作为负责任地塑造未来的框架。在四个分项目(SP)的第一个项目中，文化档案和文化记忆的理论概念将扩大到包括自然档案和构建自然-文化记忆。在此基础上，战略计划2和战略计划3将分析自2000年以来人类文学作品以及选定媒体(环境纪录片、媒体艺术品、展览、档案和艺术项目)对地球历史的再现情况。在该项目中开发的新理论框架指导下的比较文学和媒体分析及其结果将成为批判性地反思SP4中关于自然-文化记忆理论的潜力和局限性的基础。该项目的成果将以各种形式(1次国际会议、4篇论文、1本选集、创意实验室、专著)提交讨论。

The project aims to formulate for the first time a theory of nature-cultural memory in the Anthropocene and, on this basis, to investigate how literature and media function as nature-cultural archives and media of Earth history. The Anthropocene concept, which treats humanity as a globally dominant geophysical force, has also been established as a cultural concept since about 2010. By bringing together human and Earth history, it contributes to a new self-understanding of humanity. In this process, archives of Earth history (e.g. ice cores, sedimentary layers) play an important role as anchor points for new narratives of a human history in the horizon of geological deep time. Whereas previous research in Cultural Memory Studies has worked strictly within the epistemological boundaries of the nature-culture divide, the integration of Earth history and archives of nature into public and political discourses requires a broader conceptualization of cultural memory. Contributing to the interdisciplinary research field of Environmental Humanities, the project addresses the question through which scientific practices, institutions, and representation processes in various media Earth history is constructed as a framework that co-constitutes human identities. The project thus pursues three goals: (1) the formulation of a theory of nature-cultural memory will contribute to the expansion of Cultural Memory Studies; (2) a discourse-analytical investigation of scientific texts on nature-cultural archives from the multidisciplinary Anthropocene discourse will provide an understanding of the constitution of a nature-cultural interpretive power; and (3) a literary, knowledge-poetological and media-aesthetic analysis of the different modes of representation in nature-cultural memory processes will investigate how earth-historical orientation knowledge is constituted and communicated as a framework for responsibly shaping the future. In the first of four subprojects (SP), the theoretical concepts of cultural archives and cultural memory will be extended to include archives of nature and the construction of a nature-cultural memory. On this basis, the SP2 and SP3 will then analyze the representation of Earth history in anthropocenic literature since 2000 as well as in selected media (environmental documentary film, media artworks, exhibitions, archival and art projects). The comparative literary and media analyses guided by the new theoretical framework developed in the project and their results will form the basis for a critical reflection on the potentials and limits of a theory of nature-cultural memory in SP4. The results of the project will be presented for discussion in various formats (1 international conference, 4 essays, 1 anthology, idea lab, monograph).