We are a group of many identities and lived experiences, all tied by our connection to the University of British Columbia through a graduate class investigating various perspectives on the Anthropocene. Our intention is to take up the concept of the Anthropocene as it relates to our connection, disconnection, and privileges in academia, and specifically this university as a site of rupture. We all come from different backgrounds, countries, disciplines, cultures…and yet we embrace this encounter and collaborative effort to reflect on our relationships with each other and to the land we inhabit as uninvited settlers on these Musqueam traditional, ancestral and unceded lands.
In this manifesto, we present our principles of unity as we relate to the Anthropocene on campus – and through our prompts for encountering it, we hope to reveal the Anthropocene as it materially exists in this space, and to present a wayward navigation of it in both concretized and conceptual ways. We propose to manifest a wayward embodiment of practices to engage with the Anthropocene in hopes of creating novel and creative ways to counter its destruction, while also offering opportunities for people to reflect on the various environments they interact with on campus. Weaving nature and culture through place, we offer a wayward mapping of the layered histories of these places as sites of rupture to aid in understanding, unpacking, and envisioning the possibilities and limitations of intervening in the anthropogenic power that creates this “place of mind”.