A recent study by the Oxford Internet Institute examined the amount and location of Google searches for the word Zombie. Their findings, which are presented in the stunning infograph above (open in a new window/tab, or follow the link for a larger image) reveal that the bulk of searches…
I never finished my anthropology minor so feel free to correct me here, but I’m pretty sure indigenous tribes across much of the world have zombie-like concepts that go by other names. The brief summary of the study doesn’t even mention whether they searched for “zombie” in other languages. If you search for the English word “zombie,” naturally your results will center in the English speaking world. They also don’t mention if the results are scaled based upon the number of internet users in each area.
Sweet jeebus, why wasn’t this my argument essay on the GRE?!?
You raise some very valid points. I posted this, 1: because I adore infographs, and 2: because who does’nt appreciate the fact that an esteemed academic institution, and the students therein, performed a study on the global internet search habits of the term “Zombie.” You are absolutely correct, after my own quick Google search, there are various native mythos of “zombies” that are sprinkled throughout history. From the close but different Vudou cultures which arose from West Africa there is the term Zombi where a dead body can be reanimated and controlled. There is also the Anchimayen the mythical creatures taking control of the dead bodies of children, feared by the native people of Chile. There are the Dybbuk of Jewish folklore, the Old Norse Draugr, and so on.
Although I see your point of contention, I think their examination was on the Zombies of popular culture, and I may be wrong in this assumption, but Im guessing the modern term Zombie is spelled the same in most languages, hense why you can see large pockets in developed, non English speaking countries, such as Japan. That said, I agree completely with your point about scaling the research based on internet usage, people cannot do a Google search when they have no access to the internet.
PS - My GRE topic was something concerning Govenrment regulation of consumer policies…. I would have gotten into Oxford if I had a Zombie themed topic
PPS - I would for sure watch a movie called “Night of the Living Anchimayen”
Thanks for the response!
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“The results either provide a rough proxy for the amount of English-language content indexed over our planet, or offer...
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misguidedgeek reblogged this from ladydilettanti and added:
You raise some very valid points. I posted this, 1: because I adore infographs, and 2: because who does’nt appreciate...
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ladydilettanti reblogged this from misguidedgeek and added:
I never finished my anthropology minor so feel free to correct me here, but I’m pretty sure indigenous tribes across...
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