The Next Apocalypse: How and why we think about the end of the world as we know it.
From zombie apocalypse movies to preppers, we seem to love to think about everything falling apart. In this course, students will examine how societies have declined and collapsed in the past, as well as common popular apocalyptic narratives. We explore the ways in which many of our popular visions of how society falls apart differ from the historical and archaeological record, and what that tells us about ourselves.
Required Text:
The Next Apocalypse by ISBN: 9781541675285Publication Date: 2021-11-16In this insightful book, an underwater archaeologist and survival coach shows how understanding the collapse of civilizations can help us prepare for a troubled future.
Possible Catalog Searches
Here are some example searches on your class topic in the library catalog. To conduct your own searches, go to the library homepage.
Featured Books
2012 and the End of the World by ISBN: 9781442206090Publication Date: 2011-01-16Did the Maya really predict that the world would end in December of 2012? If not, how and why has 2012 millenarianism gained such popular appeal? In this deeply knowledgeable book, two leading historians of the Maya answer these questions in a succinct, readable, and accessible style.
Apocalypse and Golden Age by ISBN: 9781421441641Publication Date: 2021-12-07The first large-scale investigation of the various scenarios for the end of the world in classical texts, this book demonstrates that key thinkers often viewed their world as shaped by catastrophe.
A Doomsday Reader by ISBN: 9780814744048Publication Date: 1999-08-01A collection of pronouncements, edicts, and scriptures predicting the apocalypse.
The Fall of the Ancient Maya by ISBN: 0500051135Publication Date: 2002-05-17The most satisfying and convincing analysis yet produced of the downfall of the New World's greatest ancient civilization.
The End of the World: cultural apocalypse and transcendence by ISBN: 9780226820569Publication Date: 2023The first English translation of a classic work of twentieth-century anthropology and philosophy.
The end of the world : apocalypse and its aftermath in Western culture by ISBN: 9781906924614Publication Date: 2011This book examines historical and imaginary scenarios of Apocalypse, the depiction of its likely triggers, and imagined landscapes in the aftermath of global destruction.
Apocalyptic Anxiety by ISBN: 9781607324713Publication Date: 2016-05-02Apocalyptic Anxiety traces the sources of American culture's obsession with predicting and preparing for the apocalypse.
Gather Background Information
Use broad reference materials to find out background information about your topic. This will help you narrow your future searches and will also give you keywords to find the most relevant sources. Credo can be a good place to start for that first step in research.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference provides access to a large number of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and other reference books. Subjects covered include art, biography, history, literature, music, religion, and science and technology.
Databases
Below are suggested databases with scholarly articles on your topic.
Need more options? Library Databases A-Z
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Includes searchable PDF content going back as far as 1887. - Sociological Collection This link opens in a new window
Access to more than 500 full text journals, including nearly 500 peer-reviewed titles. Sociological Collection offers information in all areas of sociology, including social behavior, human tendencies, interaction, relationships, community development, culture and social structure. - Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive database covering topics in emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry & psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational & experimental methods. This is the world’s largest full text psychology database offering full text coverage for over 560 journals.
Scholarly Articles
- “Bad Endings: American Apocalypsis.”Stewart, Kathleen, and Susan Harding. Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 28, 1999, pp. 285–310. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/223396. Accessed 28 Dec. 2023.
- “Disaster Prepper: Health, Identity, and American Survivalist Culture.”Kabel, Allison, and Catherine Chmidling. Human Organization, vol. 73, no. 3, 2014, pp. 258–66. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44148786. Accessed 28 Dec. 2023.
- “Lessons from the Zombie Apocalypse in Global Popular Culture: An Environmental Discourse Approach to the Walking Dead.”Murphy, Patrick D. Environmental Communication, vol. 12, no. 1, 2018, pp. 44–57., https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2017.1346518.
- “Millennialism in the Mass Media: The Case of ‘Soldier of Fortune’ Magazine.”Lamy, Philip. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 31, no. 4, 1992, pp. 408–424., https://doi.org/10.2307/1386853.
- “The Psychology of Apocalypticism.”Strozier, Charles B., and Katharine Boyd. The Journal of Psychohistory, vol. 37, no. 4, Spr 2010, pp. 276–95. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2010-05475-001&site=ehost-live.
Library PowerPoints & Activities
Websites & Primary Sources
News & Magazines
Log into your Transy Google account in a Chrome browser for full-text access to articles.
- The New York TimesActivate your free digital pass
- Wall Street JournalActivate your free digital pass
Videos
- Maya Underworld : The Real DoomsdayNational Geographic Television & Film, 2015. Accessed 28 Dec. 2023.
- ApocalypseNational Geographic Digital Media (Firm), 2017. Accessed 28 Dec. 2023.
- The Year One ThousandFilms for the Humanities & Sciences (Firm), et al., directors. Films Media Group, 2005. Accessed 28 Dec. 2023.
