The University of Washington acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations. We acknowledge the people – past, present, and future – of the Dkhw’Duw’Absh, the Duwamish Tribe, the Muckleshoot Tribe, and other tribes on whose ancestral lands we study and work.
CHID 211 A: APOCALYPSE AND POPULAR CULTURE
Freedom, Control, and Power in a Damaged World
Summer Quarter 2026 Full Term TTh 11:30-1:30 Location
Erin Gilbert
eringil@uw.edu
Padelford LL B-28
Office Hours: T 1:30-2:30 W 11:00-12:00
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course explores how the dystopian anxieties and utopian fantasies that haunted the past century—the same ones that have given shape to our present reality—show up in graphic novels, films, and streaming series about social and environmental collapse in the near future. Students in this course will investigate popular representations of people building alliances, making kin, and resisting authoritarianism under apocalyptic conditions. We will focus on narrative strategies that invite audiences to reach beyond individual survival tropes to imagine shared futures for all beings—including flawed humans trying to survive on a damaged planet.