Zombie Apocalypse by Patsy Miller

When you think of zombies, do you place them in the same arena as Star Wars, Star Trek, or Planet of the Apes?  What would you think if the term zombie could be linked with such terms as US Military, Texas Instruments (TI), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the Education System?  As crazy as it sounds, think again. Even now, they walk among us; they are real.  Would it be absurd to hide inside?  What about the children?  Should they be homeschooled?  When did they get here?  Where did they come from?  Can they be stopped?  Do we want them stopped? Are they our friends?  Is the world ready for a “Zombie Apocalypse” (Nasiruddin 1)?  Come along and we will investigate together.

History

To get a clear picture of what we are working with, we will start with the history of zombies.  Zombie folklore goes back to the era of slave trading during the years of the “late 1500’s through the 1800’s” (Nasiruddin 1).   During that time and even today voodoo was and is “prominent in western Africa, Haiti, New Orleans and parts of the Caribbean Islands” (1).  Voodoo plays a big part in the origin of zombies (Ahmadmad 1).  You may be thinking right now, “Come on!  Zombies are not real!”  Most people are familiar with the current movie versions of zombie characteristics.  However, it might be surprising to learn that some of the first zombie movies exhibited behaviors like purported Haitian zombies (Nasiruddin 1).

            Haitian zombies were described as “a sleepwalker” (Nasiruddin 1).  Other characteristics include having a “unique lumbering gait, lack of higher cognitive ability, and obedience to another individual” (1).  Bokors were witchdoctors or sorcerers who supposedly had powers to zombify humans (1).  Specially prepared potions were used along with voodoo powers and dark spells (1). The witchdoctor would stand by the grave and catch the soul of the departing person in a bottle, thus he “retains complete control of the victim’s spiritually dead body” (1).  The soul supposedly could not be released back to the body until the “bokor dies” (Ahmadmad 1).

            Anthropologist Wade Davis, in the 1980’s was interested in the concept of zombies and wanted to investigate them more fully (Davis 1).  A Harvard graduate, Davis did not believe that zombies were real and felt there had to be something “pharmacologically” happening to cause this strange behavior (1).  Commissioned by “one Haitian psychiatrist and a small group of his colleagues in the United States.  They sent … writer and anthropologist … Davis” to Haiti, and with the help of a “travel writer named William Seabrook”, met with a witchdoctor (“Zombies! The Gruesome True Story” 1).  Upon Davis’ return to America, he possessed various samples of potions made by the witchdoctor (Davis 1).  Lab testing was performed using live rats and chimpanzees, which agreed with Davis’ theory (1).  Testing was also completed to confirm ingredients in the potions (1).  Davis was hailed as a great man by some for shedding light on this strange phenomenon (1).  Davis concluded that the potions used, contained various chemicals that could induce paralysis simulating death (1).  The potions could be rubbed on the skin, ingested or possibly aerosolized (1).  Testing proved that there were ingredients, including a toxin from the puffer fish, “tetrodotoxin” that in fact, could induce a paralysis mimicking a state of death (1).  If too much was administered, death could occur (1).  If too little was used, nothing happened (1).

            The first step was faking death (Davis 1).  Later, the witchdoctor would return to the grave and dig the victim up (1).  The second step was keeping the victim drugged (1).  Davis felt “Some victims might even survive being buried for a short time.  If people who believe in zombies went through such an experience, they might believe they are themselves zombies” (“Zombies! The Gruesome True Story” 1).  By doing this, the bokor could keep the person in slave bondage for years (1).  According to one Haitian tradition, the soul would be set free at the witchdoctor’s death (Davis 1). This aligned perfectly with Davis’ theory because when the witchdoctor died, there was no one to continue keeping the poor victim drugged (1).  Some semblance of mind could possibly return (1).  People who had supposedly died many long years before would sometimes find their way back to their villages and their remaining families (1).  After having been drugged for so many years, there were mental deficiencies, with some unable to speak, having developed strange physical quirks, and bearing scars from being chained (1). 

Social Effects

            The unlearned Haitians, steeped in their cultural traditions, greatly feared that they or one of their family members would become a victim of zombification (“Zombies! The Gruesome True Story” 1).  To keep bokors from catching the souls of their loved ones and taking control of the separated body, “Grieving Haitians sometimes guarded the graves… to prevent this” (1).

            When Haiti’s failing economy in 1915 affected Americas military and economy, America took over and occupied Haiti for the next twenty years (“Zombies! The Gruesome True Story” 1).  From news reports and books written regarding Haiti’s religious practices, Americans “accused Haiti’s Vodou (“Voodoo”) religion of being black magic or a “form of Devil worship.” … This helped to justify American control of the country” (1).  

Examples of Zombies

            There were two cases that were closely looked at (“Zombies! The Gruesome True Story” 1).  Villagers believed there was no doubt that these purportedly revived zombies were relatives who had been under the spell of a bokor.  One was an older woman who wandered into a village and became hospitalized.  According to “the doctor treating the woman … the villagers got carried away trying to “identify her with various people who were known to be dead long ago” (1).  She was mentally deficient upon entering the village, and people felt that she resembled a woman who had died and been buried many years earlier.  After much investigation, x-rays finally disproved this theory (1).  Ultimately it was agreed that she was a demented woman who had wandered away from her home village (1).

            The other case was by far the more credible (“Zombies! The Gruesome True Story” 1).  The man “who claimed to be Clairvius Narcisse, who died 18 years before… said he’d been enslaved as a zombie for years” (1).  Narcisse had supposedly died and later, after eighteen years, had regained his memory and came back home (1).  He had been checked by a Haitian psychiatrist who believed his story, along with his family (1).  Narcisse knew things that only he would know but at the time there was no way to scientifically prove that he had been a zombie (1).

Solutions

Having sorted through much evidence, it could seem that Davis’ theory was probably right about how these people became living zombies, not dead zombies (“Zombies! The Gruesome True Story” 1).  There were some naysayers, “his puffer fish idea is highly controversial” 1).  Some thought that the technology to uphold Davis’ theory was not there (1).  How could the bokors determine the right amount of the paralyzing ingredient? (1)  It seems that it was a hit or miss situation (1).  However, bokors probably did not have much compassion for the people they were trying to enslave (1).  If they made a mistake, some lived, some died (1).

            So where is all the current zombie hype coming from?  What is the tie between zombies and the U.S Military, TI, Education, and the CDC?  It all stems from a new process called gamification (Erenli 1).  The word gamification is so new, it had to be defined; “Gamification is the use of game design elements in nongame contexts” to teach training of various concepts (1).   All the above listed entities, are using games as learning tools (1).  The U.S. Military chose to use the scenario of training to fight zombies rather than “Tunisia” or “Nigeria” (Lubold 1). This was done to “learn about the basic concepts of military plans … through a fictional training scenario” (1).  The CDC, “opened a disaster forum on … Twitter” to show the importance of having an “Emergency Kit” in preparation to fight against a multitude of zombie disasters (Nasiruddin 1).

Always on the lookout for fun, interesting ways to teach her class, one history teacher was locked in a room with other participants like herself, a zombie, and no lights – “an escape room” (Rouse 1).  The zombie was chained to the wall, trying to catch the players who were collaborating with each other to get the door open before the zombie got loose (1).  They had one hour (1).  Sadly, all died (1).  This adventure led to more escape room ventures in search of a way to formulate active games that could teach critical thinking, communication and teamwork (1).   TI has also embraced the educational opportunities connected to gamification (Watercutter 1).  They have created a zombie application on a graphing calculator that can help train “science, technology, engineering, and math” (1).  This training is intensive and encourages problem solving to help decipher various concepts such as, which parts of the brain are damaged in a zombie (1).  This is achieved by looking at the characteristics displayed, such as slow lumbering steps and little or no speech (Rouse 1).

Camus, Absurdity and Zombies

            Albert Camus, a writer and believer of absurdity, would have embraced a zombie apocalypse whole-heartedly as evidence that life is absurd.  If Camus had been alive to observe the zombie epidemic raging rampant today, he would have flaunted the epidemic as a poster child for absurdity, “Camus’ entire philosophy is based on the idea of the absurd.  Humans have a drive to find meaning in things and where it doesn’t exist we usually try to create it. However, as the universe is cold and indifferent to this quest for meaning we will always be faced with absurd situations where our attempts to find meaning fail” (Hendricks 1).  Who in their right mind could possibly believe that zombies would be teaching students how to diagnose disease, learn history, teach military strategy, and preparedness for various health-related zombie apocalypses? 

            The idea that the dark reality of the original zombies, drugged, enslaved and chained, could be turned into a fun, challenging, learning tool is absurdly mind-boggling.  There is really no thought of the original zombie’s wretched plight as games are played and challenges of higher learning are applied.  “Camus tells us that the answer is to embrace the meaninglessness. The person who can truly know that life is absurd and get through it with a smile is an Absurd Hero” (Hendricks 1).  By Camus’ definition, there seem to be a lot of absurd heroes when it comes to zombies!

Conclusion

            According to the CDC it “does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead” (“Zombies! The Gruesome True Story” 1).  Placing zombies in the same category as Star Wars, Star Trek, and Planet of the Apes, could be a matter of opinion.  Gamification, on the other hand, has solidly tied the word zombie to the U.S. Military, Education, CDC, and TI in a beneficial way (Erenli 1).  It would seem there is no worry of harm being inflicted by zombies upon the children, but rather a tool of education (1).  It would be absurd to hide. Throughout history, there has always been one constant - change. From approximately 2007 to present, zombies have become favored as the safest bad guys to have around (1).  It looks like zombies are here to stay, at least for a while.  Eventually, they will follow the same path as Star Wars, Star Trek, and Planet of the Apes.  Gone, but never forgotten.   Enjoy them while they are here, and until then, be safe.

Works Cited

Ahmadmad. “History of Zombies”. Great Discoveries in Archaeology. Anthropology, 25 Apr. 2013. http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp264-ss13/2013/04/25/history-of-zombies/ . Accessed 21 Sept. 2018     

Davis, Wade. ”Passage of darkness: The ethnobiology of the Haitian zombie.”  J Ethropharmacol, vol. 9, no. 1, 1983.  https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-8741(83)90029-6 . Accessed 21 Sept. 2018    

Erenli, Kai. "The Impact of Gamification - Recommending Education Scenarios." International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, vol. no. 8. S1, 2013, p. 15-21.  http://dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v8iS1.2320 .  Accessed 10 Oct. 2018

Hendricks, Scotty. “The Meaning of Life Albert Camus on Faith Suicide and Absurdity”. Big Think, 1 March 2018, https://bigthink.com/scotty-hendricks/the-meaning-of-life-albert-camus-on-faith-suicide-and-absurdity. Accessed 18 Nov. 2018

Lubold, Gordon, “Exclusive the Pentagon has a Plan to Stop the Zombie Apocalypse Seriously”. Foreign Policy, 13 May 2014. https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/05/13/exclusive-the-pentagon-has-a-plan-to-stop-the-zombie-apocalypse-seriously/. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018

Nasiruddin, Melissa, et al. "Zombies--a pop culture resource for public health awareness." Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 19. One File, http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1905.AD1905 .  Accessed 21 Sept. 2018      

Rouse, Wendy "Lessons Learned While Escaping from a Zombie: Designing a Breakout EDU Game" The History Teacher, 2017, 553-564. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/soc_sci_pub/12/.  Accessed 21 Sept. 2018 

Wattercutter, Angela, “The Best Way to Teach Kids Math and Science? Zombies”. Wired, 13 Aug. 14.   https://www.wired.com/2013/08/zombie-science-math-education/ .  Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.     

“Zombies! The gruesome true story.” Skeptic, vol. 22, no. 3, 2017, p. 64-75. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A509015193/GPS?u=txshracd2496&sid=GPS&xid=3355bd43. Accessed 8 Oct. 2018.