Ghosts, Zombies, and Monsters: What We Fear and Loathe in Religions

Catalog description

Our religious imaginations are constantly haunted by myriad frightening and loathsome beings. In this class, we will explore the many ways in which ghosts, zombies, and monsters have symbolized and personified the issues, concerns, hopes, and fears that have shaped our lives. Combining the two threads of eschatology (theological considerations about death and "the end") and monster theory, it brings to the fore what is commonly demonized, marginalized, or unseen in religious traditions across the globe and asks what it is about the ghosts, zombies, and monsters that appalls and arrests us. To understand the diverse cultural traditions and their imagination of ghosts, zombies, and monsters, the majority of the course content is dedicated to these fearsome beings in Asian contexts -- China, Japan, Tibet, Thailand, to name a few. Offered as ASIA 244 and RLGN 244 . Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course. Counts as a Understanding Global Perspectives course.