Zombies of Empire and Colonialism

• In Event: Reimagining World-Making: Ideals, Concepts & Processes of Oppositional Politics

Abstract

Zombies are entities that should have succumbed to death but instead persist in an animated state of advanced deterioration. It represents a pathology characterized by an advanced state of deterioration, but one which ceases to be an ongoing process and instead has become a permanent condition. In “Zombies of Empire and Colonialism,” I extend the zombie metaphor to explore the ruins fostered by capitalism and (post)colonialism. Traditionally linked to decline, ruins also embody enduring damages and the damages of endurance. Departing from the presumption that ruination results solely from decline, the paper highlights how the endurance and preservation of empire and colonialism actively contribute to ruination. By framing ruins as monuments of endurance rather than only evidence of decline, the paper demonstrates that ruination is a political process, not merely a technical fact.

Individuals, places, and groups subjected to ruination, such as prisoners and the colonized, are not merely “left to rot” but are instead actively made to endure ruination. Rather than a series of inevitable events, ruination is a deliberate and selective political endeavor devastating specific communities, locations, relationships, and objects. Finally, the paper interrogates politics oriented toward preservation, urging consideration of what remains lost and what atrocities continue to be created when preservation takes precedence in colonial contexts. Reflecting on the ruins of empire and colonialism requires shifting the focus from viewing imperial artifacts as lifeless remnants to considering their strategic and active roles in the present political landscape.

Author

• Jessica Croteau, Johns Hopkins