In many western societies zombies are seen in movies or television they are never thought of as being anything more than imaginative fiction. In the article “The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombi by: Wade Davis he lets us know that in Haiti however, there is a strong belief that zombies do exist. “Zombies are the living dead” (Davis 1983 p.
85). In this paper I will be discussing the authors purpose for writing the article, the methods and tools he used to collect his data, the approach he took with this article and then his findings.Purpose: Davis reasons for writing this article was to simply find out whether or not there was truth to the Haitians claims that zombies exist, he also was interested in finding out the Haitians reasons behind that belief. He then wanted to know more about the drugs that were given to the dead by voudoun priest that caused them to become zombies.
Methods: Davis did lots of research in order to find out more about the zombie belief. He first looked at many cases in where people believed they had came encounter with a zombie.Davis carefully looked at these cases scientifically to determine their validity. Next Davis researched the “zombie drug” by finding out exactly what ingredients were in the drug that could possibly cause someone to be in a zombie like state. In 1962 a man named Louis Ozias had been declared dead and then was buried soon after. Before his death he was said to have suffered many ailments such as, respiratory problems, hypothermia and hypotension.
His sister was even there at the hospital with him at the time of his death she put her thumbprint on his birth certificate.In 1981 and man appears and claims to be the dead Ozias and said that he had been a zombie working in a plantation until he was freed. I wrote this background to show the method used to test Ozias’s claim because as expected many people were questioning whether or not the Ozias seen in 1981 was the same Ozias that they had buried. A Haitian psychiatrist came up with an experiment to test the truth of Ozias claim by coming with various detailed questions that only the real Ozias could know.The paragraph above was just one example of Davis’s research methodology in regards to finding out the truth about zombies.
Approach: Wade Davis’s approach when writing this article was basically to stay objective and allow the readers to draw their own assumptions about the zombie phenomena. This article was very useful because Davis provided us with many examples and cases that could make western people actually believe in the zombies. He used many sources, which made the article credible. Findings:From his research it can be shown that the Haitians claim that zombies exist can be somewhat valid. This is because the so-called zombie drug that is given to the dead to make them zombies has ingredients in them that can cause zombie like effects to an individual. For example some of the plants found in the zombie drug could cause hallucinogenic effects, skin irritation or amnesia.
There are just so many possible effects from using this drug. He also found that the priest to make sure that it has the right effect on the individual must apply the poisonous drug properly.So in reality it is a drug that is causing people to believe that zombies exist because these powerful drugs have so many extreme effects that can cause someone to appear dead but yet conscious. Conclusion: This was a well-written article and from it I was able to draw the conclusion that if it was not for the drugs administered to the individuals this zombie claim would not be valid. I do not think Wade Davis was bias when writing this article I think he mostly stayed objective throughout the article.
Davis also provided much evidence that allowed me to draw my own conclusion.
