Sociocultural Colloquium Toxic Presentism: Rethinking Time and Futures in a Polycrisis World

Join Professor Stuart Mclean and author Daniel M. Knight for a lecture about Daniel's latest book Against Polycrisis.

Abstract of Talk 

We seem to be living in an unprecedented polycrisis. Multiple crises—mass forced migration, imminent climate doom, pandemics, and the rise of the far right, to name a few—intersect and amplify each other to a degree never seen before. But the fact that voices from journalists to academics can so easily label this moment unprecedented is a problem. In this talk I put forward a case against the polycrisis framework as an example of toxic presentism, in which our analytical gaze is blurred by deeply engrained assumptions about historical progression and linear time. I advocate for a humanities approach that incorporates aspects of anthropology, history, philosophy, and popular culture to unpack recent fascinations with the unprecedented polycrisis trope. Toxic presentism that is currently perpetuated in politics, academia, and the media only serves to obscure how the world could be otherwise

About Daniel

Daniel is a Professor of Philosophical Anthropology at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He is visiting UMN not discuss his new book “Against Polycrisis” as well as other topics.