CSUEB "zombie" professor popular expert for national media

Christopher Moreman

October 28, 2011 5:00am

Zombies are for kids and Halloween, right? Why, then, are zombies so prevalent in today’s society?

Terms like “zombie billing,” “zombie housing,” and “zombie economy” are frequently used when describing our nation’s economic situation. The Walking Dead is a ratings phenomenon for the AMC network and Dead Island is a popular video game.

With this trend, Christopher Moreman, assistant professor of philosophy at California State University, East Bay, has been a popular faculty expert for major news outlets.

Moreman connects the dots of the undead’s popularity from zombie’s origins in Haitian folklore through the 1960s’ countercultural revolution to inclusion in current business vernacular in two new books, “Zombies Are Us: Essays on the Humanity of the Walking Dead” (McFarland, 2011) and “Race, Oppression and the Zombie: Essays on Cross-Cultural Appropriations of the Caribbean Tradition” (McFarland, 2011).

Zombie themes have historically been associated with racism, slavery and oppression. Moreman says that today’s usage is tied to our modern dissatisfaction with capitalism, globalism and materialism.