The Anthropocene is a loaded term. In this essay, artist Andrea Carlson reflects on the ideological blindspots of the concept.

In her provocative essay, artist Andrea Carlson contends the very notion of an “Anthropocene River.” Through the fervent efforts to define its boundary, she suggests, the very concept of the Anthropocene not only serves to reaffirm Western narratives of history and progress, the focus on the loss of humanity as a whole also flattens the historical—and ongoing—losses of many individual humans.