2025 Karlyn Kohrs Campbell Speaker

2025 Campbell Speaker Series: Dr. Eric King Watts

Postracial Fantasies and Zombies: Rhetoric, Race, and American Identity

We are proud to welcome Dr. Eric King Watts as the 2025 Karlyn Kohrs Campbell Speaker in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota. A leading voice in rhetorical studies and critical race theory, Dr. Watts will extend the insights of his 2024 book, Postracial Fantasies and Zombies, published by University of California Press. His talk will move beyond the text to explore new dimensions of how race, memory, and popular culture shape our understanding of American identity, particularly in light of the ongoing political unrest, cultural fragmentation, and struggles for racial justice that define our current moment.

In this original and provocative study, Dr. Watts explores how zombie narratives function as vehicles for postracial fantasy, obscuring histories of racial injustice while claiming to transcend them. With precision and imagination, he reveals how the undead reflect enduring anxieties about Blackness and the erasure of historical memory. Blending rhetorical analysis, Black studies, and cultural critique, the book calls us to confront the spectral logics of race in everyday life.

About Dr. Watts

Dr. Watts is Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at Wake Forest University. His research traces how Blackness is symbolized, negotiated, and resisted in U.S. political and popular culture. His writing has appeared in top journals across the humanities and social sciences, and he is widely recognized for his depth of thought and generous mentorship.

Event Details

Date: September 26, 2025
Time: 2:00 to 3:30 PM
Location: Cowles Auditorium, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, 301 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455

Reception to follow.