RR Patreon Tier 2 Free Content- Dr. Tara Smith: Ecology, Zen Buddhism & The Anthropocene in Frank Herbert's _Dune Trilogy_

Rejected Religion Podcast

Dr. Tara B. M. Smith is an early career interdisciplinary academic that works in the fields of science fiction, literature, religion and popular culture. Tara is currently a research affiliate at the University of Sydney. In 2024 Tara was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions at the Harvard Divinity School, Boston, writing on religious ideas and experiences of people that paint and play within the science fiction “grimdark” universe of Warhammer 40,000. Tara is a passionate educator who holds a Graduate Certificate of Higher Education and has taught in academic settings for over 5 years across a variety of units including media studies, religious studies, writing skills and composition. When Tara is not studying, she spends time with her two cats Thomas and Momo and her fiancé Luke in Sydney, Australia.
While most people who talk and think about the story of Dune focus on the political and religious aspects of the series [for example, the Bene Geserit with their genetic breeding program and the Kwisatz Haderach, or the Butlerian Jihad -the war against thinking machines = technology and AI], Tara's article, “The Anthropocene in Frank Herbert’s Dune Series” from 2021 takes a different approach and explores the ecological/philosophical aspects of the story. As she notes, Frank Herbert was warning his readers about their anthropocentric tendencies and urging people instead to think about ecological conservation, or at least he appears to be planting a seed in the minds of the readers to be more aware of their place or role on the Earth.
Poem mentioned in this interview:
“I drove my feet through a desert

Whose mirage fluttered like a host.

Voracious for glory, greedy for danger,

I roamed the horizons of al-Kulab,

Watching time level mountains

In its search and its hunger for me.

And I saw the sparrows swiftly approach,

Bolder than the onrushing wolf.

They spread in the tree of my youth.

I heard the flock in my branches

And was caught on their beaks and claws!”

– from Arrakis Awakening by the Princess Irulan (Herbert 1978, 228)
Dr. Tara Smith:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-b-m-smith-phd-fhea-306418192/
“The Anthropocene in Frank Herbert’s Dune Series”, Foundation 140, 50.3 (2021): 62-74. The_Anthropocene_in_Frank_Herberts_Dune.doc
Theme Music and Editing: Daniel P. Shea
End Production: Stephanie Shea
The full episode can be heard at my Patreon page: www.patreon.com/RejectedReligion, or can be purchased for a one-time fee.