Alterhumanism: Becoming Human on a Conservation Frontier (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780816555710)

What does it mean to be human in the Anthropocene? Set against the backdrop of southern Chile's conservation frontier, Piergiorgio Di Giminiani's Alterhumanism invites us to recognize the centrality of the human condition in the face of an increasingly uncertain world and imagine future forms of coexistence.

Reflecting on more than a decade of ethnographic fieldwork with smallholding settlers, Indigenous Mapuche farmers, environmental activists, entrepreneurs, and conservation scientists, Di Giminiani brings to light how these diverse groups navigate the enduring impacts of settler-caused environmental depletion and their aspirations for new ethics of care. Di Giminiani challenges traditional Western humanism, proposing a more relational and open-ended understanding of humanity shaped by interactions with nonhuman others.

Rather than seeking fixed answers, the book explores the fluid and multifaceted nature of becoming human through the lens of conservation politics. By highlighting the entangled, multispecies worlds of southern Chile, Di Giminiani offers a novel approach to understanding the political project of becoming human in the Anthropocene. Alterhumanism is a rich, ethnographically grounded perspective on humanity's evolving relationship with the natural world.

Author: Piergiorgio Di Giminiani
ISBN-10: 0816555710
ISBN-13: 9780816555710
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Language: English
Published: 11/11/2025
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover