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The dark history of zombies - Christopher M. Moreman

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Zombies have a distinct lineage— one that traces back to Equatorial and Central Africa. For three centuries, African people were enslaved and brought to the Caribbean Islands. There, a religion known as vodou developed, along with the belief that a person’s soul can be captured and stored, becoming a body-less zombie. Christopher M. Moreman uncovers the true origins of the undead.

Additional Resources for you to Explore

Below you will find a list of further reading on zombies that covers a wide range of perspectives on the subject.

Bishop, Kyle. American Zombie Gothic: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Walking Dead in Popular Culture. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010.

Boluk, Stephanie, and Wulie Lenz (eds.). Generation Zombie: Essays on the Living Dead in Modern Culture. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011.

Christie, Deborah, and Sarah Juliet Lauro (eds.). Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human. New York: Fordham University Press, 2011.

Cosentino, Donald J. (ed.). Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1995.

Dendle, Peter. The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000.

Dendle, Peter. The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, Vol. 2: 2000–2010. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2012.

Desmangles, Leslie G. The Faces of the Gods: Vodou and Roman Catholicism in Haiti. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992.

Greene, Richard, and K. Silem Mohammad (eds.). The Undead and Philosophy. Chicago: Open Court, 2006.

Hurston, Zora Neale. Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1938.

Lauro, Sarah Juliet. The Transatlantic Zombie: Slavery, Rebellion, and Living Death. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2015.

Lauro, Sarah Juliet. Zombie Theory: A Reader. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2017.

McIntosh, Shawn, and Marc Leverette (eds.). Zombie Culture: Autopsies of the Living Dead. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008.

Moreman, Christopher M. Dharma of the Dead: Zombies, Mortality, and Buddhist Philosophy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2018.

Moreman, Christopher M., and Cory James Rushton (eds). Race, Oppression and the Zombie: Essays on Cross-Cultural Appropriations of the Caribbean Tradition. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011.

Moreman, Christopher M., and Cory James Rushton (eds). Zombies Are Us: Essays on the Humanity of the Walking Dead. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011.

Paffenroth, Kim. Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero’s Visions of Hell on Earth. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2006.

Sheller, Mimi. Consuming the Caribbean: From Arawaks to Zombies. London: Routledge, 2003.

Yuen, Wayne (ed.). The Walking Dead and Philosophy: Zombie Apocalypse Now. Chicago: Open Court, 2012.

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Meet The Creators

Educator
Christopher M. Moreman
Director
Kaspar Jancis
Narrator
Addison Anderson
Historical Consultant
Tanya Boucicaut
Storyboard Artist
Kaspar Jancis
Animator
Hleb Kuftseryn, Dashka Dementeva
Art Director
Gyopár Orsolya Buzási , Kaspar Jancis
Composer
Salil Bhayani
Music
cAMP Studio
Sound Designer
Nirana Singh, cAMP Studio
Director of Production
Gerta Xhelo
Editorial Director
Alex Rosenthal
Producer
Bethany Cutmore-Scott
Associate Editorial Producer
Cella Wright
Script Editor
Alex Gendler

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