What Country Is Arrakis in ‘Dune’ Based on?

The Oregon Dunes can be found close to Florence in coastal Oregon

"Is Arrakis Iraq?" is a question that would open a can of worms. A follow-up might be, "Is Denise Villenueve's 'Dune' whitewashed?" with a dash of "Was 'Dune' author Frank Herbert fetishizing and appropriating Arab culture?"

"Dune" could be problematic but that hasn't stopped it from becoming a celebrated, dependable source material for sci-fi movie adaptations. Ask Denis who has taken his version of the book to Oscar glory. 

So, is Arrakis the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)?

For starters, the spice melange, the powerful fuel for the spacecraft in the "Dune" universe, is doublespeak for oil. The Fremen in the novel are also analogous to the Bedouin and Amazigh (lit. "free man") peoples of northern Africa. The desert-like terrain of Arrakis is also a dead giveaway, as are the many Arabic-sounding names (Muad'Dib, Lisan al-Gaib, etc.) that pepper the almost 188,000-word novel. 

Shrooms also infused the 1965 novel with magic. The "Dune" spice could be a metaphor for peyote and psilocybin, which Herbert reportedly took. His perception of the fungal life cycle is said to have inspired the trippy properties of spice described in the book and even the color of the Fremen's eyes. 

Space-bending hallucinogens aside, has Herbert at least set foot on the Arab world?

Some historians point out that Herbert had never been to the Middle East or North Africa; it's easy to see where accusations of orientalism and the white savior trope would take root. The Washington-born author rather found sands closer to home: the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. 

As a journalist, he traveled to the dunes near Florence, Oregon to do an article about a terraforming initiative by the Soil Conservation Service. Just like the Fremen, the soil conservationists were trying to transform the barren area with a special kind of grass. The article was ultimately not published. 

The jury's still out on what readers should make of "Dune," if it's a damning treatise against colonialism, just another salute to white supremacy, or an innocuous, psychedelia-induced form of cultural appreciation. But Timothée Chalamet did shoot "Dune" in Jordan and Abu Dhabi.