Latour’s Explanation of Climate Denial: Beyond Modernity, Anthropocene

The article critiques Bruno Latour's framework for understanding climate change denial, arguing that his post-humanist approach risks mirroring the denialism it aims to challenge and overlooks the diverse global responses to the Anthropocene and the role of postcolonial power relations in global governance.

• The author argues that Bruno Latour's post-human critique may inadvertently mirror and reproduce common types of climate change denial found in the global North.
• The text identifies several elements that Latour's dualistic framework fails to address, including the varied global responses to the Anthropocene, the complex relationship between modernity and nature, the modernist origins of Anthropocene discourse, and the way global governance uses posthumanist critique to normalize postcolonial power dynamics.
• The authors suggest that critical theory may be paradoxically complicit in the very denialism it attempts to critique.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2021). Latour’s Explanation of Climate Denial: Beyond Modernity, Anthropocene. https://www.sei.org/publications/latours-explanation-climate-denial-beyond-modernity-anthropocene/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Latour’s Explanation of Climate Denial: Beyond Modernity, Anthropocene. 2021. https://www.sei.org/publications/latours-explanation-climate-denial-beyond-modernity-anthropocene/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Latour’s Explanation of Climate Denial: Beyond Modernity, Anthropocene |date=15 November 2021 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/latours-explanation-climate-denial-beyond-modernity-anthropocene/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2021latours, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Latour’s Explanation of Climate Denial: Beyond Modernity, Anthropocene}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2021}, month = nov, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/latours-explanation-climate-denial-beyond-modernity-anthropocene/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }