From Ancient Greece and Medieval Europe, to 19^th-century Haiti and the modern United States, the living dead have been a subject of deep concern and fascination among the living. No matter the level of scientific development, societies have recognized the primal fact that all humans are destined to die. But what happens afterwards? Zombies, the living dead, an inversion of the natural order of things, have existed from ancient times as manifestations of society’s fears over humanity’s place in the universe and its ability to control the environment and their very bodies through scientific, medical, and technological knowledge. Over the semester we will analyze a variety of primary sources including chronicles, stories, newspaper articles, and film to see how the living dead hold up a mirror to our own world and allow us to examine and reflect upon the lengths we can go to control the world around us with science, medicine, and technology.