Revisiting Dune: Table of Contents

Over the coming months, I will post a series of essays as I reflect on the broader themes of Frank Herbert’s Dune novels and re/read them (starting with Children of Dune). This page consists of a table of contents for the series. As I post new essays, I will return to fill in links as needed. I encourage comments engaging in dialogue, critique, or debate on any of the posts; my hope is to provide a space for fruitful discussion.

Prior Essay on Dune & “White Saviors”: Dune’s Not a White Savior Narrative. But It’s Complicated.

Introduction to the Essay Series: Revisiting Dune & Its Saviors: On the Thoughts to Come

Essays:

1. The Muslimness of Dune: A Close Reading of “Appendix II: The Religion of Dune” [Tor. com]
2. Gurney Halleck, the Moor; or, Othello in Space [Medium]
3. The novel Dune had deep Muslim influences. The movie erases them. [The Washington Post] (alt. Subtitle: “Or, Denis Villeneuve, the White Savior of Dune”) (For more detailed thoughts on the film, see Supplement to Dune film review).
4. Frank Herbert, the Republican Salafi [New Lines Magazine]: The author of ‘Dune’ articulated his conservative politics not against but through his engagement with non-Western cultures (alt. subtitle: “or, Hegel and Dune”)
5. Sciences of Dune [Los Angeles Review of Books]: Curated and co-edited, with Henry Cowles, a series of historical essays on science and technology studies approaches to Dune. Our Introduction to the symposium. My essay, Sietchposting: A Short Guide to Recent Work on Dune.
6. Wretched of Dune [Lecture at Bradford Literature Festival, June 24, 2023; Forthcoming at Explore Worlds Discover Worlds]
7. “Ya hya chouhada!”: Erasure of the Arabic Language & the Algerian Revolution in the Dune Films [Twitter Thread]

Interviews & Panels:

1. “Let’s Obsess Over the Politics of Dune!” [Our Opinions Are Correct, with Annalee Newitz & Charlie Jane Anders]
2. “Dune Review — What We Saw and What We Liked” [Muslim Anti-Racism Collective, with Margari Hill, Alex Fox, & Mohammad Raza]
3. “Motherboard Does Dune: Spice, Psychedelics, and Spirituality” [Motherboard, with Gita Jackson, Brian Merchant, Shayla Love, David Klion, & Tim Marchman]
4. “Bonus: The Deep History of Dune” [NPR’s Throughline, with Rund Abdelfatah & Ramtin Arablouei]
5. “Orientalism, Salafism and Sci-Fi in the World of ‘Dune’ — with Haris Durrani” [New Lines Magazine, with Faisal Al Yafai]
6. “Islam and Futurism in Dune: A Discussion with Haris Durrani” [Stanford University, Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, with Farah El-Sharif] (part of Stanford Global Studies 2022 Summer Film Festival, Common Worlds, Limitless Realities: Futurism and Fantasy in Global Cinema)
7. “Haris Durrani on Muslimness, Orientalism, and Imperialism in ‘Dune’” [37th & the World: Georgetown Journal of International Affairs Podcast, with Michael Skora]; transcript published in Georgetown Journal of International Affairs

Reading Journal — Children of Dune:

1. Reading Children of Dune, Entry 1: Qur’anic Passages; Race & Fremen Customs; Tradition & Change (pp. 1–29)
2. Reading Children of Dune, Entry 2: Law & Modernity; Biblical Beasts & Jacurutu Origins; Herbert, Republican? (pp. 29–66)
3. Reading Children of Dune, Entry 3: Osiris, Drunk Sufism, & the Alam al-Mythal; Sophisticated Primitivity; Fremen Rebels (pp. 67–91)