2025/11/20 by Mauricio F. Collao Quevedo · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Historical Geography and Geographical Thought #Geotourism and Geoheritage Conservation #History of Science and Natural History
paper · doi:10.1080/09644016.2025.2588008
openalex created_date 2025/11/20 · openalex publication_date 2025/11/20 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
Critical social and environmental thought is undergoing a ‘geological turn’ whereby the science of Geology and the notions of the ‘geos’ and ‘the geologic’ are repeatedly conjured to think through current historical and socio-ecological challenges. In this article, I examine the conceptual, methodological, and empirical basis of this geologic turn, identifying five strands of research that currently constitute it but fail to take seriously its supposed object of study, thus qualifying as ‘geo-themed’ rather than ‘geocentric’ strands of research. I argue that the geologic turn remains relatively underdeveloped, overlooking how the onto-epistemological foundations of capitalist and colonial modernity are being destabilized by ongoing research at the intersections of the human sciences and the geosciences – research whose geo-historical significance critical thought’s geologic turn is uniquely positioned to develop into new modalities of matter and visions of modernity for life in the transition moment we occupy between planetary states.