Lucy Swanson, "The Zombie in Contemporary Fre...

In Afroindigenization: A Theory of Grassroots Cultural Practice (Duke University Press, 2026), Catherine A. John addresses the underbelly of spiritual resilience shaping a range of African diasporic institutions, traditions, and practices. John argues that repressed forms of indi ...  Show more

David Gellman interviews Patrick Griffin on The Age of Atlantic Revolution: The Fall and Rise of a Connected World The Age of Atlantic Revolution was a defining moment in western history. Our understanding of rights, of what makes the individual an individual, of how to define a ...  Show more

Their ubiquity in pop culture suggests zombies are a recent creation, but the ideas animating these cannibalistic cadavers originated in a 16th century French colony. Enslaved Africans conceived of a soul in unrest, occupying the ether. In Western culture, zombies transformed int ...  Show more

Zombies have become a global phenomenon — there have been at least ten zombie movies so far this year. Which made us wonder, where did this fascination for the undead come from? This week, how one of our favorite monsters is a window into Haiti's history and the horrors of slaver ...  Show more

Long before they graced our screens as mindless, brain-eating monsters, zombies were rooted in Haitian folklore. Rumors of a zombie potion made their way to 1980s Boston, where an ethnobotanist hoping to uncover the concoction found himself enmeshed in a secret society and face-t ...  Show more

What is a zombie? You might be thinking of the flesh-eating, undead monsters common in Hollywood, but the origin of zombies is much more fascinating than the stories in film and TV. From the brutal slave plantations of Haiti to the development of voodoo legends and traditions, ...  Show more