Monica Hanna is Assistant Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at California State University, Fullerton.
Jennifer Harford Vargas is Assistant Professor of English at Bryn Mawr College.
José David Saldívar is Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University and the author of
Monica Hanna is Assistant Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at California State University, Fullerton.
Jennifer Harford Vargas is Assistant Professor of English at Bryn Mawr College.
José David Saldívar is Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University and the author of
Monica Hanna is Assistant Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at California State University, Fullerton.
Jennifer Harford Vargas is Assistant Professor of English at Bryn Mawr College.
José David Saldívar is Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University and the author of
A Planetary Warning?: The Multilayered Caribbean Zombie in “Monstro”
-
Published:January 2016
Sarah Quesada, 2016. "A Planetary Warning?: The Multilayered Caribbean Zombie in “Monstro”", Junot Díaz and the Decolonial Imagination, Monica Hanna, Jennifer Harford Vargas, José David Saldívar
Download citation file:
This chapter investigates the significance of the apocalyptic landscape and zombie figure in Díaz’s short story “Monstro.” It focuses on the zombie within the Caribbean context to suggest that this particular incarnation mirrors the history of capital-based societies with their Western structures of power, which have created a contemporary era of unsustainable production. Reading the zombies of the story as symbols related to dominant economic, racial, and power structures, the chapter suggests that Díaz uses these paradigms in his literary imaginary, crafting a decolonial narrative that conveys that the zombie is a morally and futuristically cautionary figure. The chapter ruminates not only on the figure of the zombie but also more generally on the ways the genres of horror and science fiction, seemingly removed form literary realism, can adeptly effect social critiques of colonialism and its legacies.
Advertisement
