Abstract
This article has examined the relevance of the concept of the Anthropocene to the contemporary situation in Jharkhand. Two anthropogenic activities have been explored - namely mining and sanitary construction/sanitation management.
It has also discussed the concept of 'geographic imagination' and how this relates to attempts to curtail anthropogenic activities. The article's focus on the situation in Jharkhand has led to an exploration of the geographic imagination that may be found in the region's oral traditions - it has described how these oral traditions have expressed culturally specific ideas of anthropogenic activities long before they began to be discussed as such globally.
The article has discussed how the Anthropocene would require responses that include emphases on both eco-centric and anthropo-centric rights, and how policy instruments in other parts of the world are responding to the challenge of the Anthropocene by placing a new emphasis on ecocentric rights. Finally, the article argues for a dialogue or interface, in the context of Jharkhand, between environmental policymaking processes and the geographic imagination of the people who are important stakeholders in the policies.
The article's focus is theoretical i.e. its primary thrust is the translation of globally relevant theorizing related to the Anthropocene to the specific situation of Jharkhand. However, it also presents some theoretically illustrative primary data which has been collected in Jharkhand with the help of the ethnographic research method.