Monstrous things: horror, othering, and the Anthropocene

Abstract

This article approaches the masses of discarded things washed ashore and roaming waterways as the new monsters of the Anthropocene. It explores the ways in which monstrosity and archaeology intersect, and how the genre of horror simultaneously emerges from and informs the current epoch. As they embark on their post-abandonment journey, things’ immense scale, spread, and refusal to serve as proxies for human narratives result in the impossibility of fully grasping and making sense of them. Combining archaeological approaches and queer theory, this article attempts to get to the heart of the inevitable, complex entanglements between people and monstrous Others.