Moving towards Home: An Ecofeminist Reading of Suheir Hammad’s Born Palestinian, Born Black

This paper explores Suheir Hammad’s collection of poetry, Born Palestinian, Born Black from the perspective of ecofeminism. The discussion is focused on investigating the representations of Hammad’s double consciousness of Palestinianness and blackness and displaying the dual domination of women and nature embedded in the society of the homeland she left behind. The poems reveal that she depicts the two-ness of her consciousness by highlighting the psycho-social tensions she experiences in the two social contexts- the homeland and the current society of exile. Further, the anthology exhibits the sense of alignment between Palestinianness and blackness in her eyes that is manifested through a form of poetic kinship. They provide an understanding into her varied experience that transcends the limits of cultures and gives birth to a new ecofeminist perspective that promotes diversity. By explicating these crossroads imaged in her poetry, we hope to provide some insights into Hammad’s endeavors that complement those of recent ecofeminists, thereby setting up a common ground for building a symbiotic and ecofeministic society in which there is no male oppression or human exploitation.