Zombifying a Nation: Race, Gender and the Haitian Loas on Screen

by Toni Pressley-Sanon

Overview

The figure of the zombie that entered the popular imagination with the publication of William Seabrook's The Magic Island (1929)--during the American occupation of Haiti--still holds cultural currency around the world.

This book calls for a rethinking of zombies in a sociopolitical context through the examination of several films, including White Zombie (1932), The Love Wanga (1935), I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988). A 21st-century film from Haiti, Zombi candidat a la presidence ... ou les amours d'un zombi, is also examined.

A reading of Heading South (2005), a film about the female tourist industry in the Caribbean, explores zombification as a consumptive process driven by capitalism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786494248
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	08/02/2016
Series:	Contributions to Zombie Studies
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Toni Pressley-Sanon is an assistant professor at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Table of Contents

A Note on Spelling 1

Preface: Zombis/Zombies and Me 3

Introduction: Of History, Neocolonialism, Vodou/Voodoo and the Zombi/Zombie 7

1 White Zombie and I Walked with a Zombie: The Haitian Revolution and White Southern Fears 25

2 The Love Wanga: The American Occupation and Miscegenation 64

3 Heading South and Zombification or "Haiti is open for business" 89

4 The Serpent and the Rainbow and the 1986 Revolution 119

5 Zombi candidat à la présidence … ou les amours d'un zombi and the Resurgence of La politique de doublure 141

Conclusion: Tasting Salt 162

Chapter Notes 167

Works Cited 179

Index 187

Editorial Reviews

The sociocultural and historical framework Pressley-Sanon structures her text on is one of the book’s many attractions, making it equally fascinating across disciplines...remarkable”—H-Net Reviews.

From the Publisher