Ever since it rose from 18th-century popular consciousness like a mummy from the crypt, the gothic has spread its frightening spawn across populations and cultures around the world. This course will explore and theorize various manifestations of the gothic and its sociopolitical functions over a broad span of time. Texts may include graveyard poetry, horror film, southern gothic, and goth culture. Issues to be addressed may include xenophobia, sexual diversity, ethnic migrations and animality.