STS 135
Politics after the Apocalypse
Last Offered Fall 2020
Division II
Cross-listed PSCI 135
This course is not offered in the current catalog

Class Details

What shape will politics take after the apocalypse? Even before the coronavirus pandemic gave us reason to wonder if we are, in fact, living through an apocalypse, speculation about the end of the world and its aftermath pervaded recent television, movies, literature, philosophy, and critical theory. In this class we draw these works into conversation with political theories of the “state of nature” and “state of exception” to better understand what political possibilities are opened and foreclosed in times of crisis. What aspects of politics will endure the ravages of fire or pestilence? What new political realities might emerge on ground cleared by disaster? What does it say about pre-pandemic politics that we were so eager to consume stories of states falling and bands of survivors scraping together a nasty, brutish and short existence? And how will the unfolding pandemic change how we respond to these stories? Class will be driven primarily by discussion, typically introduced by a brief lecture.
The Class: Format: seminar; Class meetings will be conducted remotely using zoom.
Limit: 12
Expected: 12
Class#: 2573
Grading: yes pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: two 3-5 page papers, one short story (7-15 pages and including an explanatory cover letter), contributions to a class project documenting and analyzing the pandemic, and class participation
Prerequisites: first- or second-year students, or permission of instructor
Enrollment Preferences: first-year students
Distributions: Division II
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
STS 135 Division II PSCI 135 Division II
Attributes: PSCI Political Theory Courses

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