Reviews for Zazu Dreams
“Impressive.”
Dr. Noam ChomskyAuthor of Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
“Zazu Dreams thoughtfully and colorfully addresses the crucial need for young people to develop feelings for humanity and all life.”
Dr. James E. HansenDirector of the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions, Earth Institute, Columbia University
“A thoughtful, insightful, meaningful exploration of so many of the dimensions of what it is to be human in this world. Brilliant!”
Thom HartmannAuthor of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight
“Zazu Dreams is a truly magical tale for people of all ages and all faiths (or none)—a magnificent way to introduce children to the reality of the environmental crisis while simultaneously teaching some of the deep spiritual messages that are the common heritage of humanity. Your life and your children’s lives will be greatly enriched by reading (and studying) this amazing story and its accompanying commentary!”
Rabbi Michael LernerAuthor of Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation
“Zazu Dreams reclaims the power of language as both a poetic intervention into politics and storytelling and as a powerful force for reclaiming the radical imagination. Zazu Dreams moves across disciplinary borders, collapses genres, unsettles how we think about the planet and the need to keep it going, and inspires and energizes a sense of individual and social agency and collective hope as it unfolds. This is a brilliant book whose relevance cuts across generations, merges the space between adult and child, and gives the poetic as a force for struggle and hope a new and urgent political register.”
Dr. Henry GirouxAuthor of Disposable Futures: Violence in the Age of the Spectacle
“… absolutely fascinating with superb drawings and an innovative juxtaposition between a very serious subject and its narrative unraveling as a childlike adventure. … [A] totally original concept for a sociologically relevant topic. … The book is an extraordinary fusion of fanciful allegory, childhood perception, ecological prophecy and sociological parable … all woven together in a profound tapestry of consummate scholarship. Richly enlivened by the imaginative illustrations of Micaela Amato, Zazu’s youthful curiosity propels him through a global succession of apocalyptic encounters and joyfully elevating adventures. In the most poetic way, his ‘dreams’ embody a microcosm of global conflicts, premonitions, celebrations and spiritual aspirations. The unique accomplishment of this book is its capacity to simultaneously bridge the human condition through the innocent perceptions of a child and the world-weary apprehensions of an adult. Zazu Dreams is definitely an enlightening story for all ages.”
James WinesGreen Architect Founder of SITE architect
“Compelling.”
Eve EnslerAuthor of The Vagina Monologues
“Fabulous! A powerful and visionary story wonderfully told and beautifully illustrated.”
David W. OrrAuthor of Dangerous Years
“Zazu Dreams is a fascinating story that launches a new genre of book called edutainment. Amazing Research!”
Arun Gandhi,Founder/President, M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence / Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi
“In Zazu Dreams: Between the Scarab and the Dung Beetle, Dr. Cara Judea Alhadeff elegantly tackles complex subject matter. A book for all ages, Zazu Dreams touches upon the complicated nature of human existence, from one end to another, with intelligence and beauty.”
Joseph JenkinsAuthor of The Humanure Handbook
“An original and intriguing book, history meets the age of the anthropocene in a big bang in Zazu Dreams. Whimsical and instructive, fable-like and scholarly, this is a children’s book that spares the young neither the bad news nor hope for the work ahead. It is a phantasmagoric read for adults and a visual feast for all generations!”
Dr. Dalia KandiyotiIAuthor of Migrant Sites: America, Place, and Diaspora
“Zazu Dreams bursts forth from its cover, showering the reader with art, song, language, spirituality, joy, and history. In the spirit of Le Petit Prince, the door to adult reflection is opened by a child guide. With the query, “Who needs imaginary monsters or giants or evil empires when corporations like Nestle and PepsiCo, Merck and Monsanto destroy everything in their path?” Zazu Dreams challenges us with the notion that knowledge of evil, even for the very young, is the clearest path to good. From climate change to Big Oil, war to slavery, Zazu faces the worst of humanity, while simultaneously basking in the beauty that constantly amazes and surrounds, teaching that we must live in harmony with and as caretakers of this earth and all upon it, if we wish the same in return. Three generations take us on a journey to be enjoyed by all ages. A grandmother’s artwork joins a mother’s storytelling to create an adventure for her son into what it means to be human that is unrestricted by space, time or prejudice, only his—and through him our own—limitless imagination.”
Antonia JuhaszAuthor of The Tyranny of Oil
“The emphasis on 'storytelling' here is critical as [Alhadeff] demonstrates through practice in her most recent book...It is also relevant to her intercultural approach; for example, traditional Indigenous philosophies are communicated not through analytic modes but through narratives culturally understandable by the whole society. Storytelling is at the very heart of Indigenous societies, which makes traditional knowledge in these societies exoteric rather than esoteric.”
Eric CheyfitzAuthor of The Disinformation Age: The Collapse of Liberal Democracy in the United States
“What an oeuvre... What a trajectory... Astonishing!”
Paul HawkenAuthor of The Ecology of Commerce
“...very originally crafted and beautifully illustrated.”
Dr. Karen BaradAuthor of Meeting the Universe Halfway: quantum physics and the entanglement of matter. and meaning.
“Zazu Dreams is a fascinating book. … This is a real cosmic adventure—through space, through time, through the human heart.”
Bill McKibbenAuthor of The Comforting Whirlwind
“Every thought, word and action we put forth, no matter how tiny or huge, whether in the streets or in offices, underground or above, either hurts or helps the wave of prosperity to ensure a bright future for humanity, and for all life on this planet & beyond. Zazu Dreams is a beautiful example of keeping our work and our play focused on our most crucial mission, securing our survival and our freedom. Let every breath we take help that wave.”
SHKG/Humpty-HumpDigital Underground
“We’re in the midst of damaged life, and continuing with the same old modes of thought and imagination will almost certainly allow the damage to continue. Zazu Dreams generates a new imaginary that looks beyond sustainability to genuine transformation. Rather than survival as we are, Zazu Dreams raises the possibility of a creative and marvelous new world.”
Dr. Claire ColebrookAuthor of Death of the PostHuman
“Cara Judea Alhadeff is remarkably unafraid to face up to the controlling influences of the chemical industry on the US government, causing great harm to our nation’s children who are suffering from exposure to chemicals in their food, water, and vaccines. Alhadeff sees the world from a perspective that few others can achieve– addressing issues of toxic chemical exposure and the way the forces in power manipulate the population to fall in line towards unreasonable and in many cases unethical goals. Her original thinking will have significant impact on society.”
Dr. Stephanie SeneffSenior Research Scientist, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
“There is something peculiar about this book: the fact is the cover gives it away right from the start...”
Sajay SamuelAward-winning professor at Smeal College of Business, Penn State University
“A mystical, magical adventure with a serious message that should spur conversations...”
Kirkus Reviews
“Zazu Dreams is a complex, intergenerational story of three generations in creative conversation...”
Dr. Vandana Shiva
Reviews for Viscous Expectations
“In Viscous Expectations, Cara Judea Alhadeff offers an innovative hybrid of complex theoretical discourse, performative photography, and timely political analysis. Her treatment of vulnerability is particularly provocative, as are her analyses of the collision of the hyperphysical with the hypervirtual. Alhadeff opens up new ways of thinking about contemporary life and sexuality, while delving deep into myriad subjects. Everything is embodied, endowed with a sensual visual or verbal presence—from dreams, to pregnancy and motherhood, to Occupy Wall Street. Alhadeff’s work is a fascinating fusion of art and scholarship. Intricate theoretical text is paralleled by unexpected photographic imagery—sensuous, enigmatic, and layered. The book extends into new and fluid realms the still-valid idea that ‘the personal is political.’ Intellectually rigorous and aesthetically daring, the book is hard work, and worth it.”
Lucy LippardArt writer, Curator, and Activist, Author of twenty-two books on Art and Cultural Criticism
“That such disruption and interrogation can be accomplished within the regime of an almost formalist beauty…is just one of many moments in which Alhadeff shows that she thinks through the senses as well as the mind. Hers is a sensuous, as well as ruthless, intelligence for which the brilliant image is the best way of making an argument.”
Dr. Sarah K. RichUncanny Congruencies Exhibition Catalogue, Palmer Museum of Art, State College, Pennsylvania, 2013
“A radical provocation envisioning a ‘collaborative emancipatory project’ based on a ‘dialectic of the unresolvable’ and the ‘becoming impossible,’ Cara Judea Alhadeff’s Viscous Expectations: Justice, Vulnerability, The Ob-scene presents the work of an extraordinary individual whose fascinating autobiography—an American Spanish/Turkish Jew—breathes a renewed sense of urgency into a lived philosophy, ‘perceiving the world through possibility rather than prescription.’ Intimating an ae(s)thetics of contestation, intercession, resistance, and outrage, Alhadeff’s project reinvigorates the scandal that is philosophy.”
Sigrid HackenbergAssistant Professor of Art and Philosophy, European Graduate School Switzerland, Chair of Independent Studies, Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts. Portland, Maine, Author of Total History, AntiHistory and the Face that is Other
“The pride of the European Graduate School, Cara Judea Alhadeff breaks new ground with her first book. Devoted to a radical engagement with embodied democracy, the work offers wide-ranging insight into precarious textual adventure and the artistic intercept. A bold and remarkable boundary-crossing on a number of crucial levels.”
Avital RonellNew York University, European Graduate School Switzerland
“Viscous Expectations: Justice, Vulnerability, the OB-Scene by Cara Judea Alhadeff is exactly what an "art book" should be, it offers a unique and singular world view, posing more questions than answers, but advancing lines of thought and arguments into uncomfortable territory in the form of photos and text to create a further understanding of ourselves. The first impressions of her work always offer uncertain footing, causing one to find their own balance of previously conceived notions and context, and then challenge them with the new information Judea Ahadeff offers with her sensual, beautiful and often disturbing pictures.
Robert Mailer AndersonAuthor of Booneville and Producer of Pig Hunt
This is important work by an artist that is unflinching with her camera and pen.”
“With enormous energy and theoretical appetite, Cara Judea Alhadeff exposes her thought to the most difficult and most radical contemporary thinkers, contesting them with her own experience and insights. Her thought is unlimitedly ambitious and vulnerable. It issues in making vulnerability central—rather than individual autonomy or collective enterprise, rather than the subject of rights or the construction of institutions—and opens a new perspective on justice and democracy.”
Alphonso Lingis, Pennsylvania State UniversityAuthor of Violence and Splendor, Dangerous Emotions, and Trust
“[Alhadeff’s] integration of the intellectual and sensate is a genuine, unique and powerful critical disposition, where issues of abstraction and embodiment are inextricably bound together, creating a site—in the register of one’s own materiality—where political, critical, social, theoretical, and aesthetic issues and practices commingle. ...[Her photographs explore] “artifactual environments in which edge conditions are made salient.”
Thomas ZummerProfessor of Philosophy at The European Graduate School / EGS