The Zombie Reader

The Zombie Reader explores the figure of the zombie from its origin in the Caribbean to its explosion in popular culture. Using a transdisciplinary approach, this anthology of classic and new texts on the zombie provides students with a fascinating case study to understand the interaction of culture, history, and ideology.

Through four thematic parts, The Zombie Reader focuses on important concepts and historical events responsible for the rise of this iconic monster. It resituates the zombie within its African diaspora context and offers vetted material to study how the modern zombie emerged in Haiti as a reflection of the deadening effects of colonialism and slavery. It then traces how the zombie came to embody themes of exploitation and dehumanization in the age of industrialization and globalization. The anthology examines the zombie as a projection of dispossession and inner grief in the films of George A. Romero, the TV series The Walking Dead, and contemporary Haitian literature. It also addresses recent reinterpretations of the zombie as social allegory and a conscious undead. The revised first edition features reorganized and updated material.

The Zombie Reader is well suited for courses in cultural, literary, and visual studies, especially those with interest in the legacies of colonialism and slavery.

Kieran Murphy is an assistant professor in the Department of French and Italian at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has published several articles on Haitian studies and the zombie.