Zombies: The Haitian And American Realities Behind The Myth Conference, March 19-21

Please go to the Center for African and African American Research's webpage for the conference schedule http://caaar.duke.edu/lecture-series/zombie-conference Zombies are real. Zombies, or zonbi, actually exist in Haiti, though they are a small part of the rich Haitian cosmology and are quite different from the ever-changing US movie zombie. Some zonbi are simply ritually captured and mobilized spirits of the dead. Others are essentially people poisoned and enslaved based upon a secret society's judgment that they have committed an unforgiveable crime. Please join us for an unprecedented discussion about race and the use of black cultures in the fantasy of US popular culture, where we will give equal time to the realities of Haitian sacred and social life and the role of zombies within it. Hear from the leading priests and experts on race and the movie industry, monsters, the psychology of nightmares, Caribbean literature, and Haitian religion and society, as well as the Cuban and western African counterparts of the zonbi. And through the Haitian sacred dance performance and class on Friday, we will learn with both mind and body.