Zombies and a Decaying American Ontology

Listed as one of the 2014 Amazon Editor's Books of the Year, this co-edited collection of essays with Shawn McIntosh and Marc Leverette explores the development and depiction of zombies as a popular culture trope across film, folk stories, and video games. My chapter is available for free download, which gives a good overview of the evolution of the zombie as a monster type in popular culture. We're not able to provide the entire book or other chapters for free downloads, but many college libraries have ordered the book or request them to order a copy.

Abstract Zombies have exploded their fictional boundaries in what is essentially a return to their supposed beginning in social reality. These horror icons have changed through their various manifestations in film, fiction and media, however, becoming more than just metaphor for capitalism or social conservatism. Although clear connections exist between the collective symbolism of zombies and movements such as the Occupy protests or on the other hand between zombie annihilation fantasies and colonial history, no single metaphorical interpretation seems able to contain the zombie phenomenon. They have become a powerful social technology capable of creating and dismantling meaning. This ability to simultaneously construct and destroy make zombies a powerful tool in deciphering individual transformations in post-apocalyptic fictional worlds and also a key influence in forging links between those transformations and real social change. In this chapter I argue that zombies are the same kind of ‘meaning machines’ J. Jack Halberstam discussed when she attempted to revise the definition of Gothic horror in her book Skin Shows. Via Kristevian abjection, I also explain why it is important that the Romero zombie has become the dominant cultural manifestation of this particular monster. Ultimately I examine the role the technology of the zombie plays in physically re-mapping human bodies in the post-apocalypse and do this through a sustained analysis of the AMC series The Walking Dead. I find these cartographies often transgress the boundaries of the fictional worlds they manifest in and establish themselves directly in our own social reality; this is best revealed by a sustained consideration of Afro-Orientalism as political alliance between the characters in the same television series. Finally, in attempting to demonstrate the function of zombies in these processes, I discuss unexpected but potentially important connections to the field of critical posthumanism – ending on the strange subject of zombie sexuality. This chapter appears in the book Imagining the End: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Apocalypse, Inter-disciplinary Press, 2015. Jeremy R. Strong and Thomas E. Bishop, eds. Please find the full volume here: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/publishing/product/imagining-the-end-interdisciplinary-perspectives-on-the-apocalypse/

Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis

Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, 2010

This paper examines the religious implications of the modern zombie, which has achieved great popularity in the modern Western imagination. Today's zombie-craze can be traced from its roots in Haitian folklore through the 1960s counter-cultural revolution. The popularity of the zombie reflects the after-effects of the anti-authoritarianism of the 1960s. As holes appeared in what Peter Berger called the sacred canopy, previously held systems of meaning collapsed, leaving a growing uncertainty about life and death. In many cases, these holes were filled by alternative spiritualities and Eastern philosophy. I will demonstrate, using Martin Heidegger, how the modern zombie acts as a vessel for Buddhist teachings. As such, the zombie's popularity can be understood as a reflection of a present need to confront mortality and thus become an ''authentic being.'' Ré sumé : Cet écrit examine les implications religieuses du ''zombie'' moderne qui a atteint une popularité immense dans l'imagination de l'Ouest moderne. L'origine du zombi-vogue d'aujourd'hui peut être tracée à ses racines dans le folklore haïtien et la révolution contra-culturelle des années soixante. La popularité du zombie reflète les séquelles du sentiment d'anti-autoritarisme des années soixante. Avec l'apparition de déficiences dans ce que Peter Berger a surnommé ''The Sacred Canopy'', les préceptes de raison d'être d'antan se sont effondrés, créant une incertitude croissante en ce qui concerne la vie et la mort. Dans bien des cas, on a remédié a ces déficiences par des spiritualités alternatives et des philosophies de l'Est. Je démontrerai, utilisant Martin Heidegger, comment le zombie moderne sert de ''vaisseau'' pour les enseignements Downloaded from bouddhistes. De ce fait, la popularité du zombi peut être interprétée comme le reflet d'un besoin présent de confronter la mortalité et ainsi devenir un ''être authentique.''

Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetic (Eternal Return of Myth: Myth Updating in Contemporary Literature, special issue), 2017

The zombie is a new myth which appeared in Western imaginary in the twentieth century and which gradually evolved into its present-day version: the apocalyptic zombie. This work aims to review the zombie myth’s evolution and to offer some insight into why it is this new version of the myth the one we can find massively today in both artistic and non-artistic discourses.

Studies in the Fantastic, 2021

The following is a transcript1 of an interview conducted by Dr. Asijit Datta (The Heritage College, University of Calcutta) of Dr. Sarah Juliet Lauro2 (University of Tampa) for a webinar called “Zombies and Diseased Bodies,” that was held over Zoom on June 19, 2020, a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic. In republishing this here, we have two hopes: 1) that it provides a kind of snapshot of the ways that we were already reaching to the zombie myth to make sense of our changing world only a few months into “lockdown,” and 2) that it might serve as a companion piece to Christina Connor’s interview of author Justina Ireland, whose zombie novels play upon the racial inequity and colonial abuses that undergird the myth. (The interview has been edited for clarity and length.)

Open Book Publishers, 2017

since 1994. He currently teaches courses in the Psychology Department and the Cognitive Science Program. He has won and been nominated for several teaching awards including the 2001 Students' Administrative Council and Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students Teaching Award for the Humanities, and the 2012 Ranjini Ghosh Excellence in Teaching Award. He has published articles on relevance realization, general intelligence, mindfulness, metaphor, and wisdom. His abiding passion is to address the Meaning Crisis that besets western culture. Christopher Mastropietro has completed a BA in semiotics, philosophy and political science at the University of Toronto. He has been working with John Vervaeke since 2012 to formulate and publish a response to the western Meaning Crisis with convergent insights from cognitive science, philosophy and other disciplines. Christopher is interested in the interaction between sacred symbols and wisdom, and the emergence of identity within interpersonal relationships.

Sociology Compass, 2013

In this essay, focusing primarily on the cinema of the walking corpse, I provide an overview of zombie studies and suggest potential avenues for sociological inquiry into zombie phenomena. I argue that zombie films, comic books, novels, video games, and the like can be seen as significant cultural objects that reflect and reveal the cultural and material circumstances of their creation. Despite emanating from complex culture producing institutions and (arguably) capturing extant social anxieties, sociology has remained quiet on zombie phenomena. Issues of significance, history, and definition are discussed. I then locate three avenues of inquiry ideally suited to the sociological toolkit: symptomatic analysis of content, production, and audience response and interaction. I conclude by calling for a multi-pronged sociological analysis into ‘zombie culture.’