Rutgers University Press Infected Empires: Decolonizing Zombies (Global Media and Race)

Given the current moment--polarized populations, increasing climate fears, and decline of supranational institutions in favor of a rising tide of nationalisms-- it is easy to understand the proliferation of apocalyptic and dystopian elements in popular culture. Infected Empires examines one of the most popular figures in contemporary apocalyptic film: the zombie. This harbinger of apocalypse reveals bloody truths about the human condition, the wounds of history, and methods of contending with them. Infected Empires considers parallels in the zombie genre to historical and current events on different political, theological and philosophical levels, and proposes that the zombie can be read as a figure of decolonization and an allegory of resistance to oppressive structures that racialize, marginalize, disable, and dispose of bodies. Studying films from around the world, including Latin America, Asia, Africa, the US, and Europe, Infected Empires presents a vision of a global zombie that points toward a posthuman and feminist future. Review "A brilliant cartography of the zombie film, elegantly crafted, theoretically informed and ambitious in its transnational sweep and decolonial focus."--Cynthia Steele "author of Politics, Gender, and the Mexican Novel, 1968-1988""A fascinating and rigorous study that invites us to analyze our dreams and fears, the contemporary effects of global power and coloniality, necropolitics, today's structures of oppression, and certainly the very essence of our own humanity. Patricia Saldarriaga and Emy Manini have written a book on zombies that will stand the test of time; their reading decolonizes and queers identity, the present, the future, horror fiction, and most definitely: our understanding of history."--Oswaldo Estrada "author of Troubled Memories: Iconic Mexican Women and the Traps of Representation" About the Author PATRICIA SALDARRIAGA is a professor of Luso-Hispanic studies at Middlebury College, Vermont. She is the author of Los espacios del 'Primero Sueño' de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and co-editor (with M. Júdice, I. Araújo-Branco, and R. Marques) of Sor Juana e Portugal. EMY MANINI is an independent scholar based in Seattle, Washington.