Searching for an Anthropo(s)cene in the Uplands of Mid Wales

Abstract

This essay presents the responses of four creative writers to the highly modified landscapes of the Cambrian Mountains in mid Wales. Through a tour of the historic mine site of Cwmystwyth and the dams of Cwm Elan, our aims were to engage with the concept of the Anthropocene in a landscape that could be emblematic of the proposed new geological interval. Through poems and prose inspired by these landscapes, the physical, social, cultural, and political processes shaping them are explored. The pieces have a strong sense of place, and touch on themes of pollution of the environment by heavy metals, geomorphological impacts of dams, and the human stories associated with those places. We demonstrate the great potential of such places and landscapes as sites where artistic creativity and science can engage and collaborate to find ways of communicating concepts such as the Anthropocene and the anthroposcenic.

本论文呈现四位创意作家对于威尔士中部大幅变更过的坎布里亚山岳地景的回应。我们透过Cwmystwyth的历史矿场与Cwm Elan的水坝之旅，企图在能够象徵提出的崭新地质年代间隔的地景中，涉入人类世的概念。我们透过由这些地景所啓发的诗作与散文，探讨形塑这些地景的自然、社会、文化与政治过程。这些作品具有高度的地方感，并触及受到重金属污染的环境、水坝对地形的冲击，以及与这些地方相关的人类故事等主题。我们显示这些地方与地景的强大潜能，作为艺术创造力与科学涉入并共同合作以寻求诸如人类世与人类世科学等沟通概念的方法之场所。

Este ensayo recoge las reacciones de cuatro escritores creativos frente a los paisajes intensamente modificados de las Montañas Cambrianas, en la parte media de Gales. A través de una gira por el sitio minero histórico de Cwmystwyth y las represas de Cwm Elan, buscamos trabajar el concepto del Antropoceno en un paisaje que bien podría ser emblemático de ese intervalo geológico recientemente propuesto. Exploramos los procesos físicos, sociales, culturales y políticos que han moldeado estos paisajes, a través de poemas y prosa inspirados por éstos. Estas piezas tienen un fuerte sentido del lugar, y tocan temas de polución del medio ambiente con metales pesados, los impactos geomorfológicos de las represas y las historias humanas asociadas con aquellos lugares. Demostramos el alto potencial que exhiben estos lugares y paisajes como sitios donde la creatividad artística y la ciencia pueden comprometerse y colaborar en la búsqueda de medios para comunicar cierto tipo de conceptos, como Antropoceno y antropocénico.

• Anthropocene
• anthroposcenic
• creative writing
• dams
• Wales

• 人类世
• 人类世科学
• 创意写作
• 水坝
• 威尔士

• Antropoceno
• antropocénico
• estilo creativo
• represas
• Gales

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to two anonymous reviewers and to Tim Cresswell for their valuable comments. Thanks also to Antony Smith for assisting with the production of figures.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hywel M. Griffiths

HYWEL M. GRIFFITHS is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3DB, Wales, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. His background is in fluvial geomorphology; in particular the rates, patterns and controls of river bed erosion. Alongside this interest he has developed research interests in a wide variety of fields, including the cultural geographies of rivers and floods. He is also a published poet.

Gavin Goodwin

GAVIN GOODWIN is a Lecturer in English and Creative Writing in the Department of English and Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3DB, Wales, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include literary representations of class and work, nature writing (and ecocriticism), and theories of creativity.

Tyler Keevil

TYLER KEEVIL is a Senior Lecturer and the undergraduate Course Leader in Creative Writing at the University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, GL50 2RH, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. He is the author of several books and his articles and short stories have appeared in a wide range of journals, magazines, and anthologies. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Writers’ Trust of Canada Journey Prize, and the Missouri Review Editors’ Prize for Nonfiction.

Eurig Salisbury

EURIG SALISBURY is a Lecturer in Creative Writing in the Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3DY, Wales, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. He is also a researcher on the Cult of Saints in Wales project at the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. He has edited the work of a number of medieval Welsh poets and is also a published poet. Website: www.eurig.cymru.

Stephen Tooth

STEPHEN TOOTH is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3DB, Wales, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests focus on geomorphology and sedimentology, especially in the drylands of Australia and southern Africa. He is also interested in environmental issues more generally, including current debates about global climate change and the Anthropocene, and in science education.

Dewi Roberts

DEWI ROBERTS is an independent education consultant and enthusiastic geomorphologist. E-mail: [email protected].