Thread by @Boochelnikova

DUNE AND RUSSIAN COLONIALISM

Dune's "Sietch" and "Sietch Tabr" are well-known words for many Ukrainians. Do you know why?
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I just recently watched Dune. I know I'm kind of late, but I have some thoughts and facts to share with you.

DISCLAIMER: I haven’t read the book yet; I just did some research and made logical connections. So Dune fans, please don’t attack me ;)

Frank Herbert, author of Dune, was inspired by Russia's colonial conquests against the Northern Caucasians in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
Some terms in the novels are most probably borrowed from the history of Russian colonialism, and Ukraine is present in some of them.

The Zaporozka (Zaporozhian) Sich was a political and military-administrative center of Ukrainian Kozaks (Cossacks), formed in the 15th-16th cent. in Dnipro's lower rapids in present-day Ukraine. Sich served as a self-governing territory and a stronghold of the Kozaky Zaporozski.

The Sich played a key role in the history of Ukraine, serving as a center of resistance against Polish, Ottoman, and Russian rule at various times.

A kozak tabir (from Turkic 'tabur') or moving fortress is a combined military engineering means of defense, composed of connected wagons forming a defensive camp. It allows for marching, maneuvering on the battlefield, launching attacks, and defending positions in the field.

In Dune, Sietch was the Fremen term for a community or village.

“Sietch. It was a Chakobsa word, unchanged from the old hunting language out of countless centuries. Sietch: a meeting place in time of danger.”

Sietch Tabr was a major Fremen Sietch on planet Arrakis.

Another interesting fact is the name and story behind the main antagonist, Vladimir Harkonnen.

Frank Herbert wanted a harsh-sounding name for the antagonistic family opposing House Atreides.

"A name Vladimir Harkonnen, which to the Western ear sounded Soviet, a suggestion of the Communist enemy in existence at the time Dune was written. Dad found the name Harkonnen (which is actually Finnish) in a California telephone book."

Of course, not everything in Dune is about Russian colonialism, but discovering these little traces in such a huge pop culture product is quite cool and important. Denis Villeneuve has produced a spectacular image of colonial struggle.

Anyway,
The Empire must fall.