From Amazons to Zombies

Download or read book From Amazons to Zombies written by Persephone Braham and published by Bucknell University Press. This book was released on 2015-11-19 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did it happen that whole regions of Latin America—Amazonia, Patagonia, the Caribbean—are named for monstrous races of women warriors, big-footed giants and cannibals? Through history, monsters inhabit human imaginings of discovery and creation, and also degeneration, chaos, and death. Latin America’s most dynamic monsters can be traced to archetypes that are found in virtually all of the world's sacred traditions, but only in Latin America did Amazons, cannibals, zombies, and other monsters become enduring symbols of regional history, character, and identity. From Amazons to Zombies presents a comprehensive account of the qualities of monstrosity, the ways in which monsters function within and among cultures, and theories and genres of the monstrous. It describes the genesis and evolution of monsters in the construction and representation of Latin America from the Ancient world and early modern Iberia to the present.