Community Lecture Series: "Why We Create Monsters"

Presenter: Dr. Rachel Scoggins
Reception: 5:30 p.m.
Presentation: 6:00 p.m.

Rachel Scoggins’ talk examines the reasons behind the creation of monsters. We love monsters. Humans have always been fascinated by monster stories, evidenced by multiple monsters appearing in the earliest piece of surviving written literature. Monsters populate movies, television shows, and video games, and they surround us in the month of October. While vampires, werewolves, and zombies make great antagonists, theses monsters represent much more than just something fun or scary. Dr. Scoggins will discuss reasons why cultures create monsters and how monsters reflect the specific moment in time in which they emerge. Using examples from literature, history, pop culture, and everyone’s favorite horror movies, she will explain how monsters are an integral reflection of society and possess cultural significance far beyond their appearance at Halloween.

Dr. Rachel Scoggins is an Assistant Professor of English in the Department of English and Foreign Languages at Lander University. She holds an M.A.T. in English literature and secondary education from Agnes Scott College, and a Ph.D. in early medieval literature and Old English from Georgia State University. She is a life-long geek who grew up obsessed with fantasy and monster stories, and now researches human monstrosities and otherness in early British literature. She shares her enthusiasm for monsters with her students by teaching classes on heroes and monsters, mythology, violence, and medieval literature.