CAPAS RESEARCH PROJECT - Sladja Blažan Climate-Induced Migration in Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Narratives
This study explores how climate refugees are represented as less alive in classic post-apocalyptic scenarios as they fuse with the damaged earth into a scenery for the protagonist. I read this trope as a biopolitical project of affirming the humanity codified in whiteness and masculinity against the backdrop of less than human refugees. Famous examples can be found in films such as Waterworld (dir. Kevin Reynolds, 1995), Children of Men (dir. Alfonos Cuarón, 2006) or Snowpiercer (dir. Bong Joon-ho, 2013), to name only a few. These narratives demonstrate the instrumentalization of different levels of animation (Mel Chen)—ephemeral earth-bound objects (refugees) and super-human subjects (individualized humans in the role of leaders). The study moves on to post-apocalyptic narratives that reject such dehumanizing representation of large populations and objectification of Earth itself. Particularly narratives that focus on the post-apocalyptic sense of renewal beyond the human, provide a helpful resource for alternative conceptualizations of both, the figure of the refugee and the Earth itself. Examples can be found in N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy or Octavia E. Butler’s Parable Series.