HIS2065 “Apocalypse! The History and Anthropology of the End of the World”
Crawford Gribben [c.gribben@qub.ac.uk] and Joe Webster [j.webster@qub.ac.uk]
The aim of this module is to introduce students to historical and anthropological reflection on
apocalyptic movements across space and time. Using contemporary ethnographic case
studies while taking a long view of historical events, this module is explicitly interdisciplinary,
and will use a wide range of primary sources, including documentary and ethnographic films,
disaster cinema, apocalyptic novels and ‘cult’ websites. The module will invite students to
consider the ancient roots of millennial theory, its foundational texts, and its present-day
charismatic leaders and prophets. We will study a wide range of failed and successful
millenarian movements, including the Crusades, radical puritans, Mormons, Jewish Zionists,
American fundamentalists, Cargo Cults, UFO worshippers, mass suicide cults and radical
Islamist jihadists. Key module themes include: the use of millennial theory as presentist
critique; the development of millenarian majorities; the social, cultural and political
implications of popular millenarianism; and millennialism’s place in utopian theory. The
module concludes with a final consideration of theoretical rejoinders, in which the module
conveners encourage students to consider which, if any, millennial claims might be right –
for example, in terms of global warming – and whether that might change the way in which
historians and anthropologists should approach the subject. This module will be taught in
semester 1, 2014-15.
Topic 1: Introduction: The Beginning of the End
WEEK 1
Lecture: What is Millennialism? (CG/JW)
Seminar: Introducing Apocalypse (CG)
WEEK 2
Lecture: Texts, Prophets and Movements (CG/JW)
Seminar: Interrogating Millenarian Texts (JW)
Topic 2: Millenarian Minorities: Famous Failures and Successes
WEEK 3
Lecture: Extravagant Hopes and the Study of Failure (CG)
Seminar: Charting the Apocalypse (CG)
WEEK 4
Lecture: Death, Disappointment and Cognitive Dissonance (JW)
Seminar: Profiling a Sect: Class Presentations (JW)
Topic 3: Hell on Earth: Millenarianism as Present Critique
WEEK 5
Lecture: Islamism, Jihadism and the Critique of Modernity (CG)
Seminar: Islamic and Islamist Eschatology (CG)
WEEK 6
Lecture: Signs of the Times: Apocalypse and Social Change (JW)
Seminar: Questioning Cognitive Dissonance (JW)
WEEK 7
READING WEEK
Topic 4: Millenarian Majorities: When Apocalypse goes Mainstream
WEEK 8
Lecture: Evangelicals, Commodification, and the Profits of Doom (CG)
Seminar: Film Discussion: Left Behind (CG)
WEEK 9
Lecture: Secular Apocalypse: Environmental and Personal Health (JW)
Seminar: Film Discussion: An Inconvenient Truth (JW)
Topic 5: Heaven on Earth: Millenarianism as Future Utopia
WEEK 10
Lecture: The Present as Imagined Utopia (CG)
Seminar: How has the Present been Imagined? (CG)
WEEK 11
Lecture: The Future as Imagined Utopia: (JW)
Seminar: How is the Future Being Imagined? (JW)
Topic 6: Theoretical Rejoinders: The End of the End?
WEEK 12
Lecture: Making sense of Millennialism (CG/JW)
Seminar: Module Conclusion/ Q&A / Revision (CG/JW)