In her book Forces of Reproduction: Notes for a Counter-Hegemonic Anthropocene (2020), Stefania Barca, drawing on a materialist ecofeminist analysis of the world, proposes a counter-narrative to the hegemonic one around the Anthropocene. She questions the exclusionary and normative character of the dominant narrative and, thus, she challenges the very foundations of capitalist/industrial modernity. In doing so, by bringing forward a narrative justice, she makes visible and accounted for those who have been removed, silenced, denied existence. These other-than-master subjects and beings are what she calls “the forces of reproduction” – those who do the work of sustaining life in its material and immaterial needs. These life-enhancing forces are, for Stefania, “a queer political subject” and a “political subject in the making”.
Throughout this year Stefania has been involved in a number of events discussing the themes of her book. You can watch the different recordings below. Thank you to all involved for the opportunity to be part of these events!
In April Stefania was invited into a dialogue with Nancy Fraser, Hedda Andersson visiting Professor at LUCSUS, Lund University. The dialogue featured a book presentation by Stefania, followed by a discussion by Nancy Fraser. The event was moderated by Vasna Ramasar(Associate Senior Lecturer at Lund University) and organised by The Pufendorf IAS Advanced Study Group on Social Reproduction and Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS).
In her June keynote talk for the University of Coimbra, she discussed her analysis of reproductive forces, showing how we need to dismantle the master’s house, by undoing the [hegemonic] Anthropocene.
In February, Stefania also gave a seminar about her book for the Environmental Justice research group at ICTA, the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB).