‘Seasons of the Anthropocene’: Politicization of the haze season in Southeast Asia

Over the past three decades, a new ‘haze season’ has emerged in the public discourse in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. The semantic construction of ‘haze season’ signifies societal acknowledgement of recurring and hazardous air pollution episodes caused by the widespread burning of tropical peatlands. This study problematizes the underlying political ecology of the discursive framing of haze as ‘seasonal.’ Through a comprehensive discourse analysis of news media and government/corporate/NGO documents, this paper identifies and analyses three storylines used by divergent groups of actors seeking to attribute meaning and value to haze: (1) ‘it keeps coming back’; (2) ‘it will go away’; and (3) ‘it is normal’. Political actors draw upon these storylines to meet their distinctive political and ecological objectives. Divergent framing of seasonality by different actors reveals some of the mechanisms influencing haze mitigation and adaptation. Our study highlights the importance of unearthing and interrogating the underlying politics involved in constructing ‘seasons of the Anthropocene’. The semantic construction and popularization of ‘seasonality’ for anthropogenic environmental events can be a double‐edged sword, with familiarity enhancing societal preparedness, while normalization can lead to desensitization and inertia towards mitigation. Untangling the divergent pathways of politicizing Anthropocene seasonalities is key to determining whether and how societies can build a ‘liveable future’.