The Anthropocene as a challenge for history as a discipline

Participants:
Julia Schmidt-Funke (Leipzig)
Peter Zeller (Tübingen)
Annette Kehnel (Mannheim)
Franz Mauelshagen (Bielefeld)
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller (Wien)
Jürgen Renn (Berlin/Jena)

The term Anthropocene has become a cipher for the pressing problems that arise from deep human interventions in the planet Earth in recent years. Anthropocene has long been discussed in the humanities, and individual representatives of history have already spoken out early on. Paradoxically, Anthropocene questions the anthropocentrism of our discipline and thus shakes its foundations. On the panel, representatives of all epochs discussed how the historical sciences can respond to this challenge. Questions that are to be raised include: What role can historical science play in the Anthropocene? Which topics can or should it address? What methodological challenges does it face in doing so? What is the current state of debate in the humanities and history? What role does interdisciplinary work, especially with natural sciences, play? And what qualifications will historians need for this in the future?