The postapocalypse is a popular device used in various kinds of media that discusses the future after catastrophic events and severe societal and environmental changes. This course will introduce students to North-America centered novels and films about the "end of the world" that include representations of intersectional feminist and gender related issues, and aims at developing an understanding of the postapocalyptic genre and its potential functions for contemporary and historical contexts. Further, we will dive deeper into the genre’s relevance for discussing ideas on society, power hierarchies and discourses of race, ethnicity, family and disability.

[Edit.]Please purchase and read the following novels and watch the following films in the given order in advance to the respective sessions:

• Octavia Butler. Parable of the Sower. 1993.
• Gary Ross. The Hunger Games. 2012.
• Louise Erdrich. Future Home of the Living God. 2017.
• George Miller. Mad Max: Fury Road. 2015.
• Emily St. John Mandel. Station Eleven. 2014.

(Trigger Warning: The literature to this course features descriptions of physical and sexual violence, child loss and devastating depictions of the future.)

You do not need any particular editions of the novels, but these are the ISBNs of the editions I will be using: Parable of the Sower (978-1-4722-6366-7), Future Home (978-1-4721-5334-0), Station Eleven (978-1-4472-6897-0). As of now, The Hunger Games and Mad Max: Fury Road are available on Netflix.