Elite

Agriculture

Engineering

Philosophy

Agrarian society

Ecology

Biology

Political ecology

Economics

Mechanical engineering

Environmental ethics

Ideal (ethics)

Politics

Political science

Work (physics)

Epistemology

Political economy

Sociology

Positive economics

Colonialism

Annals of the American Association of Geographers

In this article, I contribute to theorization of the modern era as the Plantationocene, a concept grounded in life on the land and centered around the role of the plantation in sustaining a racialized elite, propelling colonial exploration, creating a core and a periphery, sanctioning forced labor, and shaping both the cultures we consume and the cultural norms we inhabit and perform. I draw on empirical work conducted in the lusotropics (Brazil, Mozambique, and Portugal) as well as on theoretical work in agrarian studies, critical development studies, and political ecology to elaborate on three aspects I argue are necessary to a complete understanding of plantation influences within and beyond its physical borders: the plantation as a concrete set of social relations, the plantation form as a historically specific imperative in the modern world system, and the plantation landscape as a discursive ideal.

The Plantationocene: A Lusotropical Contribution to the Theory