Cirrus@Austlit

To best understand the project, first take a look at this definition on preppers and prepping from Dr Tom Doig:

Q: Is prepping best understood as:

1. a belief system / ideology?
2. a set of material practices: behaviours and activities?
3. an identity?

A:  All of the above

1. Preppers strongly believe in some imminent threat …
2. … and are taking active steps to prepare for that perceived threat

• A range of activities not necessarily associated with ‘prepping’ take on new significance, when they are undertaken with the express purpose of preparing for and/or surviving perceived threats, e.g., gardening, abseiling.
• The plausibility of the threat, and the relative 'reasonable-ness' of the response, don’t affect this definition.
  E.g., if someone is worried about climate change and climate disasters, and they respond by moving from a riverbank location in Cairns, or to a highland region of New Zealand, this makes them a prepper. If someone else is worried about brainwashing rays from outer space, and they respond by making a tinfoil hat, that makes them a prepper. 

3. They also (often) self-identify as ‘preppers’, or some synonymous / modified term: ‘financial preppers’, ‘weekend preppers’, ‘fitness preppers’, etc.

Using the above definition, the project employed a three-tiered system in identifying and selecting prepper works in the database for inclusion in the project.

The first tier is reserved for works about preppers and prepping that adhere to all three of the aforementioned criteria; in essence, works that are fundamentally about prepping or prepper characters.

The second tier relates to works that have been identified as seminal texts for prepping as a subculture and ideology, either through interviews with preppers, scholarship on preppers and survivalism, or even through prepper forums online.

The third and final tier is comprised of works that either adhere to at least two of the aforementioned criteria or were strongly inflected through a survivalist lens that related specifically to some kind of threat (usually, an apocalypse), and also incorporates all tier one and two works.

Since many preppers (although, importantly, not all) are concerned about a 'SHTF' (Shit Hitting the Fan) or 'TEOTWAWKI' (The End of the World as We Know It) situation, this extra inclusion criteria allowed for a wider range of texts to be incorporated while still remaining distinct from texts simply about survival, post-apocalypse or dystopias. 

Note: works in tier one and two have extra detail provided in their affiliation note regarding their importance to the project.

See all works affliated with this project

See all tier one works in this project

See all tier two works in this project