The Open Veins of Modernity : Ecological Crisis and the Legacy of Byzantium and Pre-Columbian America / Eleni Kefala.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kefala, Eleni, author.

Series:

Cambridge elements. Elements in environmental humanities 2632-3125.

Elements in Environmental Humanities Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Climate and civilization.

Imperialism and science.

Nature and civilization.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (78 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, England : Cambridge University Press, [2024]

Summary:

The ecological crisis is the result of modernity's coloniality. The Moderns considered the Earth as 'natural resources' at their disposal. Their colonial vision of nature was complemented by that of nonmodern cultures like Byzantium and pre-Columbian America as passive or primitive, respectively. For the Moderns, the Byzantines were the 'librarians of humanity,' an inert repository of Greco-Roman knowledge, unable to produce their own. Byzantium's inertia was matched by that of nature, both reservoirs of epistemic and material resources. Thanks to those "librarians," the supposedly inexhaustible supply of natural resources, and the epistemic and material riches of indigenous America, the Moderns believed they were inaugurating an epoch of intellectual maturity and infinite growth. Today, the enduring negative view of Byzantium and the ecological crisis confirm that we remain entangled in modernity's coloniality. We should decolonize both history and nature. To mitigate humanity's existential threat, modernity must be rethought and overcome

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Dec 2024).

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781009547093

1009547097

9781009547123

1009547127

9781009547079

1009547070