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The Precarious Future of Education pp 277–299Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Future Is Cancelled: From Melancholia to Belief in the World

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Part of the book series: Education, Psychoanalysis, and Social Transformation ((PEST))

Abstract

In online spheres, news feeds are plastered with signs of the coming apocalypse: warnings of cataclysmic climate changes, planetary temperature ascension and the depletion of global water sources, surge in tandem with cautionary tales of continued financial crises, the dissolution and privatization of social welfare services and a growing sense of precarity in relation to the future of work. In film and television, the anxiety produced by our precarious present is brought to the forefront through a myriad of apocalyptic tales wherein the survival of the human species is positioned in opposition to fears of a dying planet (The Core, 2003; The Day After Tomorrow, 2004; Sunshine, 2007; Interstellar, 2014), threats of infectious diseases (I am Legend, 2007; 28 Days Later, 2002; World War Z, 2013) and the perils of non-human integration with the human population (District 9, 2009; Prometheus, 2012; Ender’s Game, 2013).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Jessie Beier

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  1. Jessie Beier
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Secondary Education, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    jan jagodzinski

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Beier, J. (2017). The Future Is Cancelled: From Melancholia to Belief in the World. In: jagodzinski, j. (eds) The Precarious Future of Education. Education, Psychoanalysis, and Social Transformation. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48691-2_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48691-2_12

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-48690-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-48691-2

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

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