The Undead and Philosophy--call for abstracts

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From the Pol Sci/Philosophy Dept at Weber State. Now that NaNo WriMo is over, you can start on some non-fiction. Good luck!

Contributors are welcome to submit abstracts on any topic of philosophical interest that pertains to the theme of the undead. We define "the undead" as that class of corporeal beings who at some point were living creatures, have died, and have come back such that they are not presently "at rest." This would include supernatural beings such as zombies, vampires, mummies, and other reanimated corpses. The editors are especially interested in receiving submissions that engage the following perspectives: philosophy of mind; the metaphysics of death; political and social philosophy; ontology and other topics in metaphysics; ethics and bioethics; aesthetics; cultural theory and globalization studies; race and gender; epistemology; philosophy of religion; phenomenology and existentialism. Possible topics might include, but are not limited to, the following: zombie-based critiques of functionalist theories of mind; historical treatments of the undead in philosophy; the films of George Romero, Danny Boyle, and Joss Whedon; the novels of Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Anne Rice, Bruce Campbell, and Poppy Z. Brite; critical writing by Julia Kristeva, Jalal Toufic, and Slavoj Zizek.

― Hunter (Hunter), Monday, 1 December 2003 22:39 (twenty-two years ago)

All my books are packed, but Derrida used zombies as an example of something that messes with the binary alive/dead, as an example of an undecideable. Not a fantastic example, arguably, since they are made up, but still...

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 1 December 2003 23:28 (twenty-two years ago)

The editors are currently in discussion with Open Court Press (The publisher of The Simpsons and Philosophy, The Matrix and Philosophy, and the forthcoming The Sopranos and Philosophy, etc.)

Apparently there's also a new Bob Dylan and Philosophy project.

Was D using the zombies as an example of indeterminacy, or the concept of zombies. Couldn't he find something that actually exists to use?

― Hunter (Hunter), Monday, 1 December 2003 23:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not sure he made that distinction, but I only vaguely remember.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 1 December 2003 23:40 (twenty-two years ago)

where the hell does derrida talk abt zombies!!? this is the best news ever!

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 1 December 2003 23:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Ask me again when I have moved and unpacked my books, and I think I can track it down. There is a chance that I'm misremembering, and it was someone using their own illustration of some of his ideas, but I think it was JD. I've a feeling it's somewhere fairly early...

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 1 December 2003 23:43 (twenty-two years ago)

http://arctic.photoisland.com/sessions/44077861047/21949852lg.jpg

― Hunter (Hunter), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 00:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought zombies, given their Haitian provenance, were a metaphor for eternal indentured servitude, but how that fits in with that chick's eyeball getting impaled on a power drill in that Fulci flick I have no idea.

― dave q, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 00:17 (twenty-two years ago)

ohmigod--i seriously advised an MA student who was writing his paper on a gender analysis of Night of the Living Dead at CSUF last year--he should submit! The paper was hilarious, and contained a very serious content analysis of violent acts separated by frequency, kind, degree and whether the recipient was male, female human or male, female zombie. There is nothing quite like putting together an excel chart labeled "Female Zombie (flesh eating) vs. Male Human.

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 02:08 (twenty-two years ago)

One of my favorite finds in a fit of self-googling was disovering that an I-luv-Buffy blurb I wrote was cited in the bibliography of some undergrad paper on feminine transgression in the modern vampire canon.

Of course, I remember writing a paper on Twin Peaks' deconstruction of the virgin/whore paradigm. Or something like that. My feminist film theory prof loved it.

― spittle (spittle), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 07:05 (twenty-two years ago)

oh haha, because of Derrida and the Zombies I got to kiss a really hot boy! Thanks Art School!

ME: Derrida... blah blah...zombies... notdead... notalive... blah blah... resolved.. blah blah.. pharmakon.. etc... blah...
HE: I want to corrupt you
ME: OH? I'm afraid that will be impossible.
HE: Why?
ME: um, because I am not a zip disk?

― rainy (rainy), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 08:23 (twenty-two years ago)

How did this brilliant dialogue get lost in the posts? All hail Rainy!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 17:47 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.theage.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1026185102390_2002/07/12/Kurupt,0.jpg

― Hunter (Hunter), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:34 (twenty-two years ago)

That is classic Rainy.

The (human) woman from Night of the Living Dead was in town running a training session at the company I work at. Apparently that's the only movie she ever did, and she speaks with a faux-British accent.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:44 (twenty-two years ago)

zombie-based critiques of functionalist theories of mind

this is the greatest phrase EVER

― Jeremy the Kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:04 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

Had to hop over to thank Hunter. I ended up hearing about the book from other places, too, but this thread was either the first, or the first when I clicked the link and realized it was a book, not a conference. I don't generally apply to conferences because the travel aspect is a bitch, but books are another matter.

Anyway -- they accepted my abstract :) "Dead Sexy: Our Attraction to the Unliving."

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 19:05 (twenty-two years ago)

haha 'derrida on zombies': page cannot be found.

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 19:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Zizek on zombies is great (i am reading some now!) and rilly inspiring w/r/t writing about horrorcore rap.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 20:10 (twenty-two years ago)

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