Pedagogy and the zombie mythos: Lessons from apocalyptic enactments

Abstract

This chapter describes the educational properties of an exercise for undergraduate Theatre and Performance students that draws upon the apocalyptic narrative of the zombie mythos. The exercise involves an exploratory walk in the persona of the last human survivor of zombie apocalypse. Examining reflective accounts of students’ experiences, written by members of a 2014 undergraduate class, and contrasting them with accounts written by experienced walking artists and exploratory walkers, the chapter seeks to draw out what can be gained for participants in this exercise and its uses for teachers. Having identified the contradictory properties of a post-1968 living dead mythos, the paper argues for its efficacy, when carefully deployed, as a means to seeing anew the everyday world. The chapter identifies, as useful outcomes of the exercise, students’ heightened perceptions of terrains, embodied practice, immersive exploration and imagination, transformed perceptions of everyday space and a developing critical view of landscapes.