Dena Al-Adeeb

Writing & Scholarship

The same inquiry,
in another register.

Alongside the artwork, Al-Adeeb writes — essays, chapters, conversations, and a book in progress on war, architecture, and oil — and works as a public intellectual and organizer. The art and the scholarship are one decolonial project.

Book in progress

The Architecture of War

The Destructions of Iraq and the Rise of Petro-cultural Imaginaries in the Persian Gulf Region

A book-length study of global war geographies, militarization, and oil economies as they manifest through infrastructure and architecture, material and visual culture, and collective memory across Iraq and the Gulf. It grows out of her doctoral work at New York University (advised by Ella Shohat); a new chapter, developed at the Käte Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic Studies, turns to artists who reimagine the ends of worlds.

I

Selected Writing

08 records
  1. 01 A Letter to My Daughter: An Archive of Future Memories Sole author Amerasia Journal, vol. 47, no. 1 (Taylor & Francis / UCLA), pp. 144–149 2021
  2. 02 The Architecture of the Intimate: Lana Salman in Conversation with Dena Al-Adeeb CLEAR HOLD BUILD — a HEKLER publication 2019
  3. 03 Trauma, Collective Memory, and Creative & Performative Embodied Practices as Sites of Resistance Sole author Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, vol. 12, no. 2 (Duke), pp. 268–274 2016
  4. 04 Reflections in a Time of War: A Letter to My Sisters Contributor Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology (Duke University Press) 2016
  5. 05 Visual-art contribution Artist Kritiker, no. 33 (Tidskriften Kritiker, Stockholm) 2014
  6. 06 Migratory Sacred Spaces: (Re)creating Ashura Chapter We Are Iraqis: Aesthetics and Politics in a Time of War, eds. N. Al-Ali & D. Al-Najjar (Syracuse University Press) 2012
  7. 07 Dissidents, Displacements, and Diasporas: An Interview with Dena Al-Adeeb With Nadine Naber Arab and Arab American Feminisms, eds. R. Abdulhadi, E. Alsultany & N. Naber (Syracuse University Press) 2011
  8. 08 From Sacred Ritual to Installation Art: A Personal Testimony Sole author Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics 2008
II

Conversations & Talks

02 records
  1. 01 Apocalyptic Sensibilities and Post-Apocalyptic Futurism: Navigating the War–Climate Continuum CAPAS Lecture Series — Heidelberg University 2021
  2. 02 Testimony — International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism (Iraq Hearing) International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism 2023
III

Movement & Public Practice

05 records
  1. 01 Sanctions on Iran — Friday Night Forums Center for Political Education, with The Red Nation & the Arab Resource and Organizing Center — co-moderator —
  2. 02 Witness — International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism On the sanctions and destruction targeting the people of Iraq 2023
  3. 03 Member — Palestinian Feminist Collective Collective organizing & pedagogy —
  4. 04 Member — HEKLER Art, dialogue, and assembly collective —
  5. 05 Curator — DIWAN: SWANA Futurisms Convening SWANA diaspora futurisms —
See the projects Read the bio