The topic of zombies in connection to slavery and the relationship to imperialism, colonialism, and cultural hybridity is very much alive in academia. We will delve into a thematic area that is rich with symbolism, from books to articles and museum exhibitions. In this guide, you will explore resources of interest, research skills, types of information (peer-reviewed, Internet), and evaluation tips that will help you with the research project in this course.
Image takes from Encyclopedia Britannica.
Race, Oppression and the Zombie
by
Freedom's Mirror Cuba and Haiti in the age of revolution
by
Democracy after Slavery: Black publics and peasant radicalism in Haiti and Jamaica
by
FROM GOOGLE TO THE UNIVERSITY'S CATALOG
Searching Google is a familiar activity for students. Google uses a computational language called Natural Language Processing (NLP) that allows its search engine to understand or approximate answers to people's searches.
People talk to Google, and Google understands
HOWEVER
Natural Language Processing does not support university catalogs or databases. We must use a different language when looking for information in the university's library catalog or databases.
USING NOUNS
Unless you are looking for a known item (a search where you know the title), using nouns related to your topic of interest should give you a few good results.
Go to the Library's catalog and try some searches: https://libraries.colorado.edu/
Look at these examples:
Haitian folklore AND zombie AND root* OR origin
Zombie AND colonialism
Imperialistic hegemony AND voodoo zombie
Zombie AND orientalism
Zombie AND racism
Zombie AND globalism OR capitalism
American occupation AND Haiti
Eighteenth-century AND slave rebellion
Haiti AND war independence AND living death
Slavery AND Slave Rebellion
Haitian Zombis
Zombie AND oppression
Cross-cultural appropriations AND Caribbean tradition
Now try some searches in JSTOR
The Internet is a good place to find background information. Background information will help you in the initial steps of your research process. For example, the Encyclopedia Britannica has an entry for Haiti, covering its land, the people, the economy, the government and society, the cultural life, and the history. This content provides a background for understanding essential components of Haitian socio-cultural features.
If you search with the domain extension .edu, you should also find some background information of interest. See, for example, The University of Miami Digital Collection's The Haitian Revolution or Brown University's Remember Haiti - Race & Slavery. Here, you can use the search terms: haitian slavery.edu or other search terms related to your topic.
There are three types of newspaper articles: Opinion, Investigative, and analysis. You may find information about the zombie figure in relationship to slavery, philosophy, religion, sexuality, and race in newspaper articles.
Opinion:
Opinion articles express the thoughts or opinions of the person who writes the article. In opinion articles, the author may want to convince the reader, not necessarily inform. Although there are opinion articles written by experts on a subject and substantiated with factual data, critical reading is always beneficial when reading an opinion article.
Investigative:
Investigative articles are written by a journalist or a group of journalists who have an area of expertise. These journalists investigate a topic at length. These topics include political, corruption, civil, economic, or corporate crimes.
Analysis:
Analysis articles are written by an expert on a topic where the content may be supported by statistical data, reliable reports, and other findings from authoritative sources. These articles usually have an informative focus, based on impartial and unbiased narrative that should be corroborated by fact.
Pay attention to the following criteria when you evaluate sources and information.
Currency:
When was it published? The year of publication matters. If your paper is historical, you can cite older publications from when the event occurred, especially if you are comparing what scholars said then and their positions now. However, if your topic deals with a current event, many of your sources will be current.
Authority:
Who is the author?
Who is the publisher?
Scope:
Is the content covered in depth?
Is the content partial or impartial?
Relevancy:
The importance of the information
Accuracy:
Is it reliable?
Objectivity:
What point of view is the author presenting?
Is the content opinion-based, investigative, or analytica?
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Lippincott, 1960.
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.
Llanera, Tracy. "Rethinking Nihilism: Rorty Vs. Taylor, Dreyfus and Kelly." Philosophy & Social Criticism, vol. 42, no. 9, 2016, pp. 937-950.
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, pages.
Lukainoff, Greg and Jonathan Haidt. "The Coddling of the American Mind." The Atlantic, 1 Sept. 2015, pp. 42-52.
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical, Day Month Year, pages.
University Libraries: University of Colorado, Boulder. University of Colorado Boulder, www.libraries.colorado.edu. Access 1 Jul. 2024.
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number, Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available), URL, DOI or permalink. Date of access (if applicable).
Learn more: Citing Electronic Sources
* Note: in works cited pages, the second and subsequent lines of citations are indented by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent. Learn more about formatting.
