Carving New Worlds in the Borderland and Juggling Cultures in Selections of Hammad's Poetry

Abstract

The borderland is a space Gloria Anzaldua, the Chicana feminist, reconfigures and establishes outside the borders of the mainstream. It embraces a culture of tolerance, acceptance, and solidarity as it welcomes difference and people of all kinds from all walks of life. It does not reject any possibilities, new ways of thinking, or being. In fact, this space makes experimentation and self- discovery not only possible but a necessity crucial to the process of developing, recreating identities, and building connections with others. Writers inhabiting this space such as Anzaldua and Suheir Hammad work to resist oppression and silencing through solidarity and rewriting the stories of those whose histories have been erased. The purpose of this study is to explore the borderland within Hammad's poetry and the extent to which Hammad's poetry and the path she has taken on as a writer of the borderland contribute to the creation of a counter- narrative.