News | Tuesday, 8th October 2013

Zombies invade Geoffrey Manton building!

Undead rise to take part in Humanities in Public

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MMU experienced its very own Night of the Living Dead yesterday evening, as the Geoffrey Manton building was transformed into a scene from the zombie apocalypse.

Amidst the screams and thrills, serious work was afoot, as this Monday began the Humanities in Public festival strand which for the next three weeks will be looking at Contemporary Gothic.

Professor Fred Botting of Kingston University was the featured guest speaker, and gave a talk entitled ‘Zombie?’, which discussed the parallels between fictional zombies and the current neoliberal political and social structures affecting the world around us.

Around 100 people attended, from a cross section of staff, students and members of the public.

“Thrilling”

The undead were provided courtesy of Zed Events, a Manchester based immersive gaming group who can be seen chasing people round the streets of the city centre on a regular basis.

Convened by Dr Xavier Aldana Reyes, the Contemporary Gothic strand is a forerunner to an entire week of Gothic Manchester events, centring around the launch of MMU’s Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies, which will be helmed by Gothic expert Dr Linnie Blake.

Humanities in Public Creative Programmes Co-ordinator Helen Malarky said: “Last night was a fantastic event which really showed what HiP is about: serious research and debate combined with the enthusiasm, celebration and excitement that makes culture such a thrill to study in the first place.”

Strand convener Dr Xavier Aldana Reyes added “It is great to be able to bring Gothic Studies to a wider audience by inviting well-known and respected speakers to MMU. Professor Botting’s paper did a brilliant job in re-evaluating the meaning of zombies in our contemporary context.”

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