Folklore and the Climate Crisis: Reading Beara as an Anthropocene Patch with Máiréad Ní Mhíonacháin

Though the term ‘Anthropocene’ has become dominant in discourses surrounding climate emergency, its globalising tendencies risk discouraging grassroots action. This article argues, therefore, that order to better understand crisis, a more local approach is needed. Folklore suggested as one such way specific impacts of Anthropocene can be read. To investigate, this analyses folklore Máiréad Ní Mhíonacháin ‘Capitalocene Patch’, combining Anna Tsing’s ‘Patchy Anthropocene’ and Jason Moore’s ‘Capitalocene’ theories. In particular, looks at how Mhíonacháin’s records human non-human produced landscapes, asks piseoga (superstitions) might produce healthier relations with environment.