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The living dead? The construction of people with Alzheimer's disease as zombies
- Author:
- BEHUNIAK Susan M.
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 31(1), January 2011, pp.70-92.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
Current literature shows how both Alzheimer's disease, and the people that suffer from it, have been stigmatised. In this article, the author suggests that Alzheimer's stigma is of a specific sort – dehumanisation based on disgust and fear. While blame for negative perceptions of people with Alzheimer's has been placed on the biomedical understanding of dementia, the author argues that strong negative emotional responses to Alzheimer's are also reinforced by the social construction of people with Alzheimer's as zombies. To highlight the case, this article identifies seven specific ways that the zombie metaphor is referenced in both the scholarly and popular literature on Alzheimer's. This common referencing of zombies is significant as it pervades the social discourse about Alzheimer's with a politics of revulsion and fear that separates and marginalises those with the disease. The article concludes that by recognising the power of this zombie label, its negative impact can be addressed through an emphasis of connectedness, commonality, and inter-dependency.