Sounding the alarm Notes from the Editor-in-Chief Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier

In the fall of 2023, we launched a special call for papers titled “Sounding the alarm” for Anthropologica’s newest section, “Seedings,” a section dedicated to planting and growing ideas related to current events and debates. Even though we launched our call to “sound the alarm” over a year ago, it is frightening to realize how relevant it is today, perhaps even more so than it was then. Let’s look back. Summer 2023 was officially the hottest on record everywhere in the world. In Canada, the 2023 wildfire season was the most destructive remembered, “like no other year, by a stupendous margin” with more than 6,500 wildfires reported by the beginning of September. But Canada was not the only country with these terrifying figures. Unparalleled wildfires in the northern hemisphere destroyed millions of acres of boreal forests, including in Russia, Greece, Portugal and Maui, Hawaii. As we write these lines, thousands of firefighters are still battling the flames in densely populated Los Angeles County. Wildfires are now anticipated calamitous events that the government, people, and survivors must, sooner or later, prepare to fight. Yet, wildfires are striking evidence—a clear alarm bell—that we are losing ground in this quickly and dramatically changing world. The fires are among the events that first incited us to launch this call. But they are not the only ones. The coordinated deadly attacks in Israel led by the Islamist militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023, provoked a military riposte in the Gaza Strip. After fifteen months of fighting, a ceasefire and hostage release agreement came into force between Israel and Qatar. As Palestinians begin their return to the north of Gaza, they face ruins and devastated villages, among other painful realities of this genocide. When considering violence and wars in the world, reports show that we are witnessing a historic rise in global conflict, with deadly wars, particularly in Ukraine, Sudan and Ethiopia. Those conflicts create ripple effects around the world, and the media relays this information straight into our hands as we scroll through our favourite app. Sounding the alarm further evokes the contemporary moment of misinformation and alarmism. Thus, it calls our attention to the ever-present worry of scaremongering as well as the potentiality of whistle-blowing. An alarm refers to a noise, a signal, an action that announces the presence of danger and threats or that serves to wake a person up, from slumber or, perhaps, apathy. Alarms act as the impetus for action and movement. Sounding the alarm may encourage people to speak up, take a stance, and also take action. It may force some to escape and find ways to survive, and others to act in solidarity. Sounding the alarm does not usually leave people indifferent, it stimulates reflection and actions and may drive people to care and be empathetic. Sounding the alarm may provoke the emergence of new ways of thinking and being in the world. It may also incite people to become activists and to revolt. What do alarms generate (or not), how do people react, get organized and mobilized? Or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, do alarm messages coerce and paralyze? And how do racial, gender, class and age factors impact how people react and cope with alarms? People of colour are disproportionately affected by climate change, yet some suggest that climate anxiety is overwhelmingly a White phenomenon. As Donald Trump’s new office targets scientists, migrants, women, transgenders, and vulnerable groups, people rally on social media, in their community, at their public libraries in the hopes of a better, more inclusive and equitable future. As such, alarm …