Biko Mandela Gray is assistant professor in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University. His research interests are in continental philosophy, philosophy of religion, black studies, and black religious studies. His first book, titled Black Life Matter, is under contract with Duke University Press.
Wilderson doesn’t use the term “zombies” in his work. But his afropessimist stance includes a set of concepts—social death, gratuitous violence, sentient (but not living) existence—that could be easily applied to any episode of The Walking Dead.