Professor Jennifer Pruitt will be teaching ART HIST 103 The End of the World MW 12:05–12:55 PM during the Fall 2024 semester. No Prereqs! | First Year Friendly! | Comm B Option | Humanities Breadth | L&S Credit. Enroll here.
Description: Do you feel anxious? Are thoughts of an impending apocalypse — whether by plague, war, climate disaster, or sentient robots — bringing you down? We are not the first to face the end of the world. Explore how humanity has grappled with the world’s end across space and time. Anchoring our analysis in the history of art, we will also explore dystopian imaginings in television, film, video games, and literature. Why are we drawn to apocalyptic narratives? What can they tell us about humanity’s shared fears and hopes? How does art anticipate and rebuild from cataclysm? This class is about the end of the world. But it is also about hope and the enduring resilience of the human spirit.