The Anthropocene and History: The Orbis hypothesis in the construction of a Latin American Environmental History

Antropoceno e Historia: Orbis hypothesis en la construcción de una Historia Ambiental latinoamericana

Abstract

This article aims to present, in general, some possibilities and limitations of the use of the Anthropocene concept in environmental history, highlighting some epistemological disputes that still surround the term, such as the definition of a time frame or its transdisciplinary use. And, more specifically, to explore the possibilities of using the Orbis hypothesis, proposed as a time frame for the Anthropocene, in the construction of a Latin American environmental history, highlighting the way in which it would enable the interdisciplinary epistemological convergence of biophysical parameters and indicators of ecosystem anthropization with the founding colonial sociohistorical processes of modernity.

Keywords: epistemology; colonialism; interdisciplinarity; Latin America