Description
- Abstract:
- This dissertation examines the shifts in reproduction, knowledge, and power that remap our notion of "life" in contemporary scientific and popular cultures through the uncanny vitality of the undead. The objects of this study move from the zombie in Haitian myth and American cinema to the recessive trait in the history of genetics and the way in which the body is mediated as a "natural" object and a sovereign entity. The body has always been the site for mediation, particularly for markers of identity such as race, gender, and self-improvement and my dissertation looks at the ways in which these symbolic markers work on screen, around the body, and in the flesh. This project situates itself in relation to recent scholarship that examines the way that technology permeates and reframes the body, changing it from a "natural" and sovereign object to the subject of information, mediation, and exchange. I use the term "uncanny vitality" to designate a kind of excessive life that belongs not only to representations of the zombie in cinema but also to a remapping of "life" itself that exceeds the boundaries of the individual as we see in the distributed identities that form within the context of both new media the life sciences. I argue that the body belongs to an important media history that can be traced from the enslaved body of the African Diaspora, continuing through the screened body of cinema, to the present day as technologies further instrumentalize the body as a source of value, labor, and resources. Beginning from a point of intersection between media technology and the body allows me to draw from a diverse range of objects and approaches to answer questions concerning the shifting status of the human subject.
- Notes:
- Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2011)
Access Conditions
- Rights
- In Copyright
- Restrictions on Use
- Collection is open for research.
Citation
Bering-Porter, David,
"Undead: Bodies and Codes of Uncanny Vitality in the Media of Late Capitalism"
(2011).
Modern Culture and Media Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0NS0S5N
Relations
Collection:
-
Modern Culture and Media Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations for the Modern Culture and Media department....