WHAT IS THE ANDROCENE

Resumo

The text argues that the concept of the Anthropocene does not adequately explain the historical and structural causes of the planetary crisis. It proposes replacing the term Anthropocene with Androcene, a term that designates a global system grounded in patriarchal, colonial, and capitalist domination. This perspective emphasizes that ecological collapse is not the result of “humanity as a species,” but rather of specific power relations that privilege masculinist, Eurocentric, and extractivist logics. The article begins by identifying the roots of the Androcene in ancient dualisms—Humanity over Nature, Masculine over Feminine, White over Black—which, sedimented over centuries, continue to shape modern institutions, sciences, and languages. The text introduces the idea of a global matrix of debts in which workers, women, Indigenous peoples, youth, and non-human species are exploited through social, embodied, generational, livelihood, and species debts. As its main findings, the text argues that the patriarchal‑colonial‑capitalist system operates as a dialectical unity, generating ecological and social crises that cannot be solved through isolated identity‑based politics nor through technocratic solutions. It highlights the emergence of a “movement of movements”—ecofeminist, Indigenous, labor, and youth struggles—that seek to overcome the dissociative logic of the Androcene and build regenerative and ecocentric futures. The text concludes that real transformation requires breaking with anthropocentrism and adopting a relational, embodied materialist perspective, recognizing that human beings are nature in embodied form.