Melting Landscapes

This paper constitutes a comprehensive exploration of alpine glaciers. It is an anthropological inquiry delving into the socio-cultural dimensions of glacial retreat and melt, as part of the broader phenomena of environmental and climate change, in two regions of the French and Swiss Alps. Ice has been a formidable force throughout history, shaping the Earth and challenging humanity's capacity to thrive in its presence. However, recent years have witnessed Earth's rapid deglaciation due to human-induced factors like fossil fuel emissions, accelerating the disappearance of monumental glacial structures worldwide.By being particularly attentive to the Mer de Glace glacier in Chamonix, the paper seeks to understand what emerges as glaciers in Europe’s alpine regions retreat and disappear. As glaciers melt, it raises intriguing questions about what new markings are being created in the landscape and how they are either obscuring or erasing once meaningful features or leaving them open to new meanings and assemblages. The research takes deep inspiration from Anna Tsing's work on socioecological emergence in landscapes shaped and disturbed by capitalist processes, to ask what new socialities might emerge in a landscape characterized by melt and loss.We extend our heartfelt thanks to the Vahabzadeh Foundation for financially supporting the publication of best works by young researchers of the Graduate Institute, giving a priority to those who have been awarded academic prizes for their master’s dissertations.