CFP: Zombie Culture (12/1/03; collection)

full name / name of organization: 
Marc Leverette

CALL FOR PAPERS: Zombie Culture: Studies of the Monster that Won't Go =
Away edited by Shawn McIntosh and Marc Leverette.

We are seeking proposals for a collection tentatively entitled Zombie =
Culture: Studies of the Monster that Won't Go Away.

Zombies have held a unique place in popular culture throughout most of =
the 20th century. Rare in that this enduring monster type originated in =
a non-European folk culture rather than the Gothic tradition from which =
monsters such as vampires, werewolves, and Frankenstein have emerged, =
zombies nevertheless have in many ways superseded these Gothic monsters =
in popular entertainment.=20

Why have zombies continued to resonate so pervasively in the popular =
imagination, appearing not only in movies (and movie titles that have =
little to do with zombies), but in video games, computer hacker lingo, =
insurance scams, and academic, philosophical literature on =
consciousness? What makes zombies so versatile as symbols of horror and =
dread, and how does the perception of zombies change across cultures?

With this collection, we hope to bring together noted researchers from =
the fields of popular culture, cinema studies, media entertainment, =
philosophy, Caribbean history and literature, and ethnobiology, among =
others, to examine zombies and the evolution of their portrayals in =
popular literature, film, and video games. It is hoped that by bringing =
together this collection of essays and articles, readers will gain =
deeper insight into what zombies mean in terms of the public psyche, how =
they represent societal fears, and how their evolving portrayals =
continue to reflect underlying beliefs of The Other, contagion, and =
death.

Zombie Culture will be aimed at an educated, but not specialized, =
audience. With an emphasis on keeping the collection interdisciplinary, =
essays chosen for inclusion should be scholarly and knowledgeable, but =
not obscure. Publishers sought will be both university and mainstream =
presses.

The following topics are merely suggestions. Possible ideas include, but =
are not limited to:

  a.. articulating a definition of the zombie
  b.. history of the zombie
  c.. the Haitian zombie
  d.. ethnobiology of the zombie
  e.. zombies in literature
  f.. zombies and slavery
  g.. zombies and the body
  h.. zombies and The Other
  i.. zombies and postcolonialism
  j.. philosophical notion of zombies
  k.. zombies as metaphor (audience as zombies, consumers as zombies, =
etc.)
  l.. history of zombie cinema
  m.. specific zombie films (i.e. White Zombie, Romero's films, 28 Days =
Later, etc.)
  n.. zombies and underground/independent cinema
  o.. transnational zombie cinema
  p.. zombie movies and psychoanalysis
  q.. zombie movies and gore
  r.. zombies and cannibalism
  s.. zombies and modernism/postmodernism
  t.. intertextual encounters with the zombie in popular culture (i.e. =
South Park, Michael Jackson's Thriller, etc.)
  u.. zombies and the grotesque
  v.. zombies in transition between media (i.e. from literature/theater =
to cinema; from cinema to video games, etc)
  w.. zombies in specific video games (such as Resident Evil, etc.)
Deadline: As soon as possible, but no later than December 1, 2003.

Please send either your completed essay or a 500-1,000 word description =
of the essay you would like to contribute as an e-mail attachment =
(preferably in Word) to both smac55_at_rcn.com and =
marclev_at_scils.rutgers.edu.

Please include a brief biography or brief cv.

If your essay is considered for final inclusion, you will have until =
April 30, 2004 to complete it.

Shawn McIntosh is co-author of Converging Media: An Introduction to Mass =
Communication and the forthcoming Newswriting for Television and =
Interactive Television. Marc Leverette is the author of Professional =
Wrestling, the Myth, the Mat, and American Popular Culture and the =
forthcoming The Highway is Alive Tonight: Cultural Resistance in =
American Music.

Department of Journalism and Media Studies

School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies

Rutgers University

4 Huntington Street

New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1701

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Received on Fri Oct 24 2003 - 09:01:46 EDT