Anthropology of the Supernatural: Zombies Notes

Anthropology of the Supernatural: Zombies

• Lecture 21 Overview
  Focuses on the cultural significance and historical development of zombies, particularly in American popular culture.

Contributions to Zombie Studies

• Explores themes of race, oppression, and cultural appropriation.

• Edited by Christopher M. Moreman and Cory James Rushton.

Key Essays

Ann Kordas: "New South, New Immigrants, New Women, New Zombies"

• Main Themes:

  • Examines early Zombie cinema, particularly the film "White Zombie" (1932), as a reflection of societal anxieties regarding race, power, and immigration in early 20th-century America.

  • Discusses how Zombies symbolize race relations and identity struggles, linking folklore with historical tensions around slavery and white supremacy.

  • Analyzes the evolution of Zombie narratives through time, questioning whether contemporary stories still resonate with these early themes.

  • Investigates the representation of gender within Zombie narratives in the context of 1st wave feminism, illustrating how the "New Woman" concept intersects with Zombie tropes.

Rita Keresztesi: "Hurston in Haiti: Neocolonialism and Zombification"

• Focus on Zora Neale Hurston:

  • Reviews Hurston's work in Haiti, specifically her observations in "Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica" (1938).

  • Highlights the socio-political context of U.S. military occupation (1915-1934) and its implications on local structures of labor and power.

• Key Insights from Keresztesi:

  • Zombies are described as "cyborgs", invoking the complexity of their representation in culture.

  • Photography plays a crucial role in Hurston’s documentation, providing a lens into the authentic existence of Zombies as cultural phenomena.

  • Explores the concept of "zombification" as a nuanced form of slavery tied to neocolonial exploitation and forced labor.

  • Hurston's work inspires later scholars, such as Wade Davis, influencing the study of Zombies in cultural anthropology.

• Impact of Hurston's Work:

  • Keresztesi emphasizes how Hurston’s documentation reveals the intricate realities of Zombie rituals and their significance beyond folklore, influencing contemporary understandings of Zombie phenomena in cultural critique.