Criminology 3903 Hell and Damnation: Apocalypse Criminology.
winter term 2025-26. MWF 12.30 --> 1.20 MMH202 weblog gradesheet
Synopsis: We live in a time of
crisis, exacerbated and made intractable by social, economic, and
political problems, all with effects on personal liberty and social
control. This course looks at the unique crime problems created by
that crisis, and the consequent effect of crime control.
Overall, these problems include 
pandemics, economic mass migration due to famine;
globalization and the movement of capital to offshore zones; the
plutocratic greed of the one percent, the fading of the middle class
and a growing precariat. Couple that with climate change migration
brought on by toxic colonialism and environmental racism, and there
is a recipe for dislocation. As a consequence, terrorism and
counter-terrorism increases, a rise in political unrest and its
suppression by an expanding surveillance state. Activism of the
dispossessed, and cyber counter-activism, the effect of living in
stranger-economies, and the effect of disinformation all feed the
entropy. These and other portents are part of a gathering storm of
global crisis and discontent with profound implications for both the
practice and the study of deviance and control. However, it is
not all negative, although macro-centrifugal forces set the stage
for micro acts of resistance and social movements such as
homesteading and survivalism, online communities, social protests,
and so on. Image: Adbusters 2024
COURSE READINGS: Online electronic resources (OER) about
‘apocalyptic criminology,’ and cultural resources on
multidimensional issues, e.g. environment, politics, and
cyber/surveillance. This is an emerging area in criminology and as
yet, there is no monograph available as a textbook. However, there
are books, articles, and reports on the topics potential for the
weekly course modules. Some readings are listed below.
EVALUATION: (1) Classmark (25%), reflects 'engagement':
reflections, exercises; (2) Proposal (20%), due week seven, 2/3pgs
max sspaced, with 3-5 refs, of an issue, such as animal activism,
environmental protest, media coverage; or a topic, such as protests
in Rexton over shale gas fracking, protests in BC in Wet'suwet'en
territory over pipeline access, and so on. This can be done with
others showing the relative amount of work, and is the prelude to
the project. (3) Final Project (30%), develop the proposal
into a full end of term project as an interactive format, eg.
powerpoint , prezi, or a 7-10 page essay, dspaced, or a video,
scrapbook... with pictures, weblinks, references. (4)
Presentation or exam, (to be determined) (25%).
*The overall format is flexible, individually-focused, interactive,
and indepth*
COURSE MODULES:
Week 01: Theorizing the apocalypse:
pandemics, protest, and precarity
Week 02: Advances in criminological theory
e.g.: ghost and gothic criminology
Week 03: Recurring themes in popular culture I:
zombie flicks and monster stories
Week 04: Recurring themes in popular culture II: comic books and
crime
Week 05: The Anthropocene, environmental collapse, and criminalizing
protest
Week 06: The crisis in racialized policing, and the legitimacy of
the criminal justice state
Week 07: Resistance to traditional policing by minorities and
activists
Week 08: The dispossessed and the economic precariat
Week 09: Cyber-crime and artificial intelligence
Week 10: The increase in terrorism and counterterrorism
Week 11: Subcultural theory and the seduction of terrorist solutions
Week 12: Social disorganization and the rise of the totalitarian
surveillance state
Week 13: Post-apocalyptic criminology.
SAMPLE READINGS:
Week 1: Theorizing the apocalypse
"Cultural criminology and kryptonite: Apocalyotic and retributive
constructions of crime and justice in comic books," Nickie Phillips
& Staci Strobl, Crime, Media, Culture, 2006, online at: https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/cmctre2&id=290&men_tab=srchresults
Week 2: Advances in criminological theory
“Ghost Criminology: A Framework for the Discipline’s Spectral Turn,”
Michael Fiddler, Travis Linnemann, Theo Kindynis, The British
Journal of Criminology, v64 n1 (20240101): 1-16 ... and google link:
https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article/64/1/1/7214016
Week 03: Recurring themes in popular culture I:
zombie flicks and monster stories
"Lessons from the Zombie Apocalypse in Global Popular Culture: An
Environmental Discourse Approach to the Walking Dead," Patrick
Murphy, Environmental Communication, 2018. Article link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17524032.2017.1346518