Apocalypse: Imagining the End

From Christian concept of the “Apocalypse” to the Hindu notions of the Kali Yuga, visions of destruction and fantasies of the “end times” have a long history.  One purpose of the conference is to explore these ideas by situating them in context – historical, literary, cultural, political, and economic (to name a few).  However, the modern period is especially marked by a mixed sense of concern and fascination with apocalypse, and today we are surrounded by scenarios of imminent destruction and annihilation.  The second aim of conference is therefore to examine today’s widespread fascination the apocalyptic thought, and to understand its appeal across broad sections of contemporary society around the world.

Papers, reports, work-in-progress, workshops and pre-formed panels are invited on issues related to (but not limited to) the following themes:

• Decline, Collapse, and Decay
• The Second Coming
• The Hindu Kali Yuga
• Sex at the End of Time
• Ironic and/or Anti-Apocalyptic Thinking
• Utopia, Redemption and Rebirth
• Intentional Communities as Communities of the End Times
• Selling the Apocalypse, Commodifying Disaster, and Marketing the End Times
• Death Tourism and Disaster Capitalism
• The Age of Terror
• Global Warming and Its Denial
• Zombies, Vampires, and Werewolves in Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
• Disaster Fiction/Movies
• History as Apocalypse
• 2012
• Remembering and Reliving the Collapse of the Western Roman Empire
• Technology and Mass Destruction

The call for papers and further details can be found here: