Rispoli describes geoanthropology as “a new domain of research that addresses the relations between the geosphere and anthroposphere and that studies the various mechanisms, dynamics, and pathways that have moved us into the Anthropocene.”

According to Omodeo et al., geoanthropology “seeks to merge an updated version of Earth System research (the geo, including the bio) with cultural theories and histories of socio-material, energetic, and informational flows (the anthropos).”

The article by Renn states that “the aim of geoanthropology is to study the co-evolutionary system created by the addition of the technosphere to the Earth System: the techno–Earth System.”

These are some of the most general, broad-spectrum questions that have inspired this conference. We are excited to explore them through the more specific themes of metabolism, legal imagination, and geopraxis!
www.unive.it/geometa

Nonetheless, how can Earth system science and Anthropocene theory (and history) co-exist and even communicate in a shared epistemological framework given their methodological differences? What is needed to turn this programmatic research proposal into an operative field of research?

The difficult question is: How? To start, the “geo” part draws on Earth system science, a relatively new field, while “anthropos” is characterized by interdisciplinary research from the Anthropocene debate. (A common misunderstanding is to think "anthropology" must refer to the classical discipline)