Nabaz Samad

Nabaz Samad is a Kurdish art critic, translator, and lecturer at the University of Sulaimani in Iraqi Kurdistan. He holds a master’s degree in Ethics and Political Philosophy from the University of Manchester and a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Koya University. Nabaz teaches at the College of Fine Arts, specifically in the visual arts and film-making departments. His academic interests encompass philosophy of art, film-philosophy, art criticism, gender, genocide, and decolonial theory and the intersections of art, cinema, knowledge, and power. Nabaz is also a co-founder of the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies at the University of Sulaimani, where he teaches courses on »Religion, Knowledge and Power«. He has made significant contributions to Kurdish academia and culture through his extensive scholarly work. He writes in both Kurdish and English. Among his notable works are »Hannah Arendt: Ba’athism, and Anfal«, published in The Review of Middle East Studies and »Film as Philosophy« as well as »Masoud Muhammad and Theodor Adorno on Art: A Comparative Study«, which appeared in the Journal of University of Raparin and »What Kurdish Art Can Tell Us about Anfal?« in the Journal of Kurdistani for Strategic Studies. Alongside his academic work, Nabaz served on the editorial board of Culture Magazine, coordinated the Culture Project in Kurdistan. He has translated two major books into Kurdish: »Thinking Art: An Introduction to Philosophy of Art« by Antoon Van den Braembussche and »Dying for Ideas: The Dangerous Lives of Philosophers« by Costica Bradatan. In 2024/25 Nabaz Samad is a fellow at ZKM | Karlsruhe.