Using Poetry to Understand Social Issues

Raymond Gandara EDSC 304

Directions: To begin your webercise, watch Suheir Hammad perform her spoken word piece
below. Next, answer the questions to gauge your preliminary understanding of the piece. You
may open the transcript to the right if it helps to see the words. Afterwards, you will explore
two articles below to deepen your understanding of Hammads piece. You will be asked to
refer back to poem after each article. To finish, you will watch the performance again and write
a reflection on your understanding of the piece after having read the articles.
First Writing Since by
Performance Transcript
Suheir Hammad

What major event was Hammad reflecting on in her poem?

How did that major event impact her? Her Family? Her community? (Use textual evidence
from the transcript)
Herself:
Her Family:
Her Community:
Examples of imagery in the poem:
Interview with Suheir http://www.aljadid.com/content/drops-suheir-hammad-talk-
Hammad palestinian-poet-born-black
Where were Hammads parents from? _____________________________________________
Where was Hammad raised? ____________________________________________________
What was poet Audre Lordes definition of Black and how does Hammad use that concept in
her poetry?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

What communities does Hammad identify with? How does that influenced her poem above?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

How does Hammads biography influence your understanding of the poem?

Israeli and Palestinian Conflict https://www.vox.com/cards/israel-palestine

In what year did the conflict begin according to this article? What caused it?
____________________________________________________________________________

What is Zionism and its relationship to the conflict between Israel and Palestine?

____________________________________________________________________________

In what years were their uprisings or violent conflict between the two countries? What caused
the violent conflict?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Between the two-state and the one-state solutions, which do you find more plausible to end
the conflict and maintain peace? Explain your reasoning.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

How does the conflict in Israel and Palestine broaden your understanding
of Suheir Hammads poem?

Reflection: Watch the piece again. How did your understanding of the poem change after
having done more research on the social issues relevant to the piece?