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{{About|the figure from Haitian religion|the figure from films such as "Night of the Living Dead"|Zombie (fictional)|the philosophical concept|Philosophical zombie|other uses|Zombie (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2012}}
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{{Zombies}}
A '''zombie''' (]: ''zonbi''; ]: ''nzumbe'') is an ] resurrected back to life by mystical means, such as witchcraft.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | title = Zombie | encyclopedia = Oxford English Dictionary | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1998}}</ref> The term is often figuratively applied to describe a ] person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli. Since the late 19th century, zombies have acquired notable popularity, especially in North American and European ].

In modern times, the term "zombie" has been applied to an ] in ], largely drawn from ]'s 1968 film '']''.<ref name="books.google.co.uk">Deborah Christie, Sarah Juliet Lauro, ed. (2011). . Fordham Univ Press. p. 169. ISBN 0-8232-3447-9, 9780823234479.</ref><ref name="bbc">{{Cite news|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7280793.stm |title=Zombie maestro lays down the lore |accessdate =1 October 2009 |author = Smith, Neil |publisher=BBC News | date=7 March 2008 | location=London}}</ref> They have appeared as plot devices in various books, films, television shows, and video games.

==Africa==

===West===
According to the tenets of ], a dead person can be revived by a ], or sorcerer. Zombies remain under the control of the bokor since they have no will of their own. "Zombi" is also another name of the Vodou snake ] ], of ] origin; it is akin to the ] word ''nzambi'', which means "god". There also exists within the ] tradition the zombi astral, which is a part of the human ] that is captured by a bokor and used to enhance the bokor's power. The zombi astral is typically kept inside a bottle which the bokor can sell to clients for luck, healing or business success. It is believed that after a time God will take the soul back and so the zombi is a temporary spiritual entity.<ref>*McAlister, Elizabeth. 1995.“”</ref> It is also said in vodou legend, that feeding a zombie salt will make it return to the grave.

===South===
The idea of zombies is present in some South African cultures. In some communities it is believed that a dead person can be turned into a zombie by a small child.<ref name="Marinovich84">{{Cite book|title=The Bang-Bang Club Snapshots from a Hidden War |last=Marinovich |first=Greg |authorlink=Greg Marinovich |coauthors=Silva Joao |year=2000 |publisher=William Heinemann|isbn=0-434-00733-1 |page=84}}</ref> It is said that the spell can be broken by a powerful enough ].<ref name="Marinovich98">{{Cite book|title=The Bang-Bang Club Snapshots from a Hidden War |last=Marinovich |first=Greg |authorlink=Greg Marinovich |coauthors=Silva Joao |year=2000 |publisher=William Heinemann|isbn=0-434-00733-1 |page=98}}</ref>

It is also believed in some areas that ]es can turn a person into a zombie by killing and possessing the victim's body in order to force it into slave labor.<ref name=Niehaus>{{Cite journal|last=Niehaus |first= Isak |title=Witches and Zombies of the South African Lowveld: Discourse, Accusations and Subjective Reality |journal= The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute |year= 2005 |month=June|volume= 11 |number= 2| pages =197–198 }}</ref> After rail lines were built to transport migrant workers, stories emerged about "witch trains". These trains appeared ordinary, but were staffed by zombie workers controlled by a witch. The trains would abduct a person boarding at night, and the person would then either be turned into a zombie worker, or beaten and thrown from the train a distance away from the original location.<ref name=Niehaus/>

==Haiti==
In 1937, while researching ] in Haiti, ] encountered the case of a woman who appeared in a village, and a family claimed she was ], a relative who had died and been buried in 1907 at the age of 29. However, the woman had been examined by a doctor, who found on X-ray that she did not have the leg fracture that Felix-Mentor was known to have had.<ref>{{cite jstor|2792947}}</ref> Hurston pursued rumors that the affected persons were given a powerful ], but she was unable to locate individuals willing to offer much information. She wrote:

{{quotation|What is more, if science ever gets to the bottom of Voodoo in Haiti and Africa, it will be found that some important medical secrets, still unknown to medical science, give it its power, rather than gestures of ceremony.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hurston|first=Zora Neale|title=Dust Tracks on a Road|publisher=2nd Ed. (1942: Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984, p. 205)}}</ref>}}

Several decades later, ], a Harvard ], presented a pharmacological case for zombies in two books, '']'' (1985) and ''Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie ''(1988). Davis traveled to Haiti in 1982 and, as a result of his investigations, claimed that a living person can be turned into a zombie by two special powders being introduced into the blood stream (usually via a wound). The first, ''coup de poudre'' (French: "powder strike"), includes ] (TTX), a powerful and frequently fatal neurotoxin found in the flesh of the ] (order ''Tetraodontidae''). The second powder consists of ]s such as ]. Together, these powders were said to induce a deathlike state in which the will of the victim would be entirely subjected to that of the bokor. Davis also popularized the story of ], who was claimed to have succumbed to this practice.

The process described by Davis was an initial state of deathlike ], followed by re-awakening&nbsp;— typically ''after'' being buried&nbsp;— into a psychotic state. The psychosis induced by the drug and ] was ]ed by Davis to re-inforce culturally learned beliefs and to cause the individual to reconstruct their identity as that of a zombie, since they "knew" they were dead, and had no other role to play in the Haitian society. Societal reinforcement of the belief was hypothesized by Davis to confirm for the zombie individual the zombie state, and such individuals were known to hang around in graveyards, exhibiting attitudes of low affect.

Davis's claim has been criticized, particularly the suggestion that Haitian witch doctors can keep "zombies" in a state of pharmacologically induced trance for many years.<ref>Booth, W. (1988), "Voodoo Science", '']'', 240: 274–277.</ref> Symptoms of ] range from numbness and nausea to paralysis&nbsp;— particularly of the muscles of the diaphragm&nbsp;— unconsciousness, and death, but do not include a stiffened gait or a deathlike trance. According to psychologist ], the scientific community dismisses tetrodotoxin as the cause of this state, and Davis' assessment of the nature of the reports of Haitian zombies is viewed as overly credulous.<ref name="Hines, Terence Pages 60–62">Hines, Terence; "Zombies and Tetrodotoxin"; '']''; May/June 2008; Volume 32, Issue 3; Pages 60–62.</ref>

Scottish psychiatrist ] highlighted the link between social and cultural expectations and compulsion, in the context of ] and other mental illness, suggesting that schizogenesis may account for some of the psychological aspects of zombification.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Oswald|first=Hans Peter|title=Vodoo|publisher=BoD – Books on Demand|date=2009 (84 pages)|page=39|isbn=3-8370-5904-9}}</ref>

Slaves brought to Haiti in the 17th and 18th centuries, believed that when they died, ] would gather them from their grave to bring them to heaven, unless they had offended him in some way, such as committing suicide, in which case they'd be forever a slave after death, as a zombie.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wilentz |first=Amy |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/31/opinion/a-zombie-is-a-slave-forever.html |title=A Zombie Is a Slave Forever |location=Haiti |publisher=NYTimes.com |date=2012-10-26 |accessdate=2012-10-31}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
{{see also|Zombie (fictional)}}
] featuring writers who have worked in the genre (l-r): ], Daniel Kraus, ], Will Hill, ], Chase Novak and ]. Also present but not visible in the photo was ].]]
The figure of the zombie has appeared several times in ] themed ] and entertainment, as early as the 1929 novel ''The Magic Island'' by ]. ] claimed that the book "introduced 'zombi' into U.S. speech".<ref>, ], 9 September 1940.</ref> In 1932, ] directed '']'', a horror film starring ]. This film, capitalizing on the same voodoo zombie themes as Seabrook's book of three years prior, is often regarded as the first legitimate zombie film, and introduced the word "zombie" to the wider world.<ref>Roberts, Lee. , November 2006.</ref> Other zombie-themed films include ]'s '']'' (1943) and ]'s '']'', (1988) a heavily fictionalized account of Wade Davis' book.

In 2011, ] released a four issue miniseries entitled '']'', by writer El Torres and artist Abe Hernando. The story consists of ] zombies that have been created using ].
<!-- NOTE: This is not a list of every zombie ever. Please only add items that have sources describing their importance or impact -->

The zombie also appears as a metaphor in protest songs, symbolizing mindless adherence to authority, particularly in law enforcement and the armed forces. Well-known examples include ]'s 1976 album '']'', and ]' 1994 single "]".

A new version of the zombie, distinct from that described in Haitian religion, has also emerged in popular culture in recent decades. This "zombie" is taken largely from ]'s seminal film '']'',<ref name="PM">{{cite web|url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/159439-legacy-of-the-living-dead/|author=J.C. Maçek III|work=]|title=The Zombification Family Tree: Legacy of the Living Dead|date=2012-06-15}}</ref> which was in turn partly inspired by ]'s 1954 novel '']''.<ref name="books.google.co.uk"/><ref name=stokes>{{cite web|title= Ghouls, Hell and Transcendence: The Zombie in Popular Culture from "Night of the Living Dead" to "Shaun of the Dead"|first=Jasie|last=Stokes|publisher=Bringham Young University|url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/2129|accessdate=2012-07-25}}</ref> The word ''zombie'' is not used in ''Night of the Living Dead'', but was applied later by fans.<ref>{{cite news|title='Godfather of the Dead' George A. Romero Talks Zombies|work=Wired |url= http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/06/george-a-romero-zombies/|accessdate=2 October 2011|first=Annaliza|last=Savage|date=15 June 2010}}</ref> The monsters in the film and its sequels, such as '']'' and '']'', as well as its many inspired works, such as '']'' and '']'', are usually hungry for human flesh although ''Return of the Living Dead'' introduced the popular concept of zombies eating brains. Sometimes they are victims of a fictional ] illness causing the dead to reanimate or the living to behave this way, but often no cause is given in the story. Although this modern monster bears some superficial resemblance to the Haitian zombie tradition, its links to such folklore are unclear,<ref name=stokes/> and many consider George A. Romero to be the progenitor of this creature.<ref>{{cite book|title= Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human|editor= Deborah Christie, Sarah Juliet Lauro|page=169|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0oZIlm84F2oC&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=romero+zombie+ghouls&source=bl&ots=OqDhPx6I3m&sig=fBKmtkH_PBGVm7rpADZ0bwR3_lI&hl=en&ei=SpuITqGXF8TI0QWFk4XlDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=romero%20&f=false|isbn=0-8232-3447-9, 9780823234479 |publisher=Fordham Univ Press|year=2011}}</ref> Zombie fiction is now a sizeable sub-genre of horror, usually describing a breakdown of civilization occurring when most of the population become flesh-eating zombies&nbsp;— a ].

==See also==
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==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite jstor|541551}}
* Bishop, Kyle William (2010) ''American Zombie Gothic: The rise and fall (and rise) of the walking dead in popular culture'' McFarland, Jefferson, North Carolina, ISBN 978-0-7864-4806-7
* Black, J. Anderson (2000) ''The Dead Walk'' Noir Publishing, Hereford, Herefordshire, ISBN 0-9536564-2-X
* Christie, Deborah and Sarah Juliet Lauro, eds. (2011). Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human. Fordham Univ Press. p.&nbsp;169. ISBN 0-8232-3447-9, 9780823234479.
* Curran, Bob (2006) ''Encyclopedia of the Undead: A field guide to creatures that cannot rest in peace'' New Page Books, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, ISBN 1-56414-841-6
* {{cite doi|10.1016/0378-8741(83)90029-6}}
* Davis, Wade (1988) ''Passage of Darkness: The ethnobiology of the Haitian zombie'' University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, ISBN 0-8078-1776-7
* Dendle, Peter (2001) ''The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia'' McFarland, Jefferson, North Carolina, ISBN 0-7864-0859-6
* Flint, David (2008) ''Zombie Holocaust: How the living dead devoured pop culture'' Plexus, London, ISBN 978-0-85965-397-8
* Forget, Thomas (2007) ''Introducing Zombies'' Rosen Publishing, New York, ISBN 1-4042-0852-6; (juvenile)
* Graves, Zachary (2010) ''Zombies: The complete guide to the world of the living dead'' Sphere, London, ISBN 978-1-84744-415-8
* Hurston, Zora Neale (2009) ''Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica'', Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0-06169-513-1
* {{cite doi|10.1016/S0140-6736(97)04449-8}}
* {{cite jstor|2792947}} ( at ])
* McIntosh, Shawn and Leverette, Marc (editors) (2008) ''Zombie Culture: Autopsies of the Living Dead'' Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, ISBN 0-8108-6043-0
* Moreman, Christopher M., and Cory James Rushton (editors) (2011) ''Race, Oppression and the Zombie: Essays on Cross-Cultural Appropriations of the Caribbean Tradition''. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5911-7.
* Moreman, Christopher M., and Cory James Rushton (editors) (2011) ''Zombies Are Us: Essays on the Humanity of the Walking Dead''. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5912-4.
* Russell, Jamie (2005) ''Book of the dead: the complete history of zombie cinema'' FAB, Godalming, England, ISBN 1-903254-33-7
* Waller, Gregory A. (2010) ''Living and the undead: slaying vampires, exterminating zombies'' University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Indiana, ISBN 978-0-252-07772-2

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Latest revision as of 19:12, 26 December 2015

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