Breaking Dichotomies: Counter-Narratives in the Spoken Word Poetry of Suheir Hammad

Abstract

This article analyzes the spoken word poetry of the Palestinian-American author, Suheir Hammad, who attempts to deconstruct dichotomies between Arabs and Americans and to create a concept of transnational humanness. Through cultural criticism, Hammad reverses the process of Othering when she humanizes Palestinians and detaches suffering from national belonging. Her creative resistance represents a renegotiation of Americaness and its relation to Islam and Arabs, and opens up de-nationalized spaces of comparison.