https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019617738099 The Anthropocene Review 1–16 © The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/2053019617738099 journals.sagepub.com/home/anr The Anthropocene Review 1–16 © The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/2053019617738099 journals.sagepub.com/home/anr Research article The many Anthropocenes: A transdisciplinary challenge for the Anthropocene research Toivanen T, 1,2 Lummaa K, 1,3 Majava A, 1 Järvensivu P, 1 Lähde V, 1 Vaden T 1 and Eronen JT 1,2 Abstract The debate on the Anthropocene has become passionate during the past few years. This is partly because social scientists and humanists have adapted the concept creatively for their own research, as well as criticized the dominant role of natural sciences in defining the Anthropocene. We claim that to achieve a new level of transdisciplinarity it is vital for the Anthropocene research to fully acknowledge the theoretical, methodological and practical issues involved. We argue that inevitable as well as fruitful antagonisms can be identified between different disciplines and practices of trans- and interdisciplinary research improved by learning from these experiences. Here we analyze three ideas to enhance future transdisciplinary communication. First, we shed light on the current condition of transdisciplinarity in Anthropocene research by examining the challenges in Earth System science. Second, we widen the view on Anthropocene research by defining four different disciplinarily oriented research approaches to the Anthropocene: geological, biological, social, and cultural Anthropocene. Third, we reflect on the future challenges of merging these approaches into a new transdisciplinary Anthropocene research. Keywords Anthropocene, Earth System sciences, humanities, interdisciplinarity, social sciences Introduction Anthropocene, as suggested by Crutzen and Stoermer (2000 ), has created a wealth of publications from vastly different fields of science (for a bibliometric survey, see Brondizio et al., 2016). So far, the potential acceptance of the Anthropocene Epoch into the International Chronostratigraphic Chart has gained most of the public and scientific attention. For this purpose, the International 1 BIOS Research Unit, Finland 2 University of Helsinki, Finland 3 Culture and Arts Studies University of Turku, Finland Corresponding author: Eronen JT, University of Helsinki, PO Box 64, Helsinki 00014, Finland. Email: jussi.t.eronen@helsinki.fi 738099ANR 0 0 10.1177/2053019617738099The Anthropocene ReviewToivanen et al. research-article 2017