“We Teach Life, Sir”: Poetic Resistance to Erasure and Dehumanization

Abstract

Rafeef Ziadah’s outspoken-word poem, “We Teach Life, Sir” is a potent critique of the dehumanizing and decontextualizing depictions of the Palestinian struggle in Western media. Through its powerful imagery and blatantly aggressive tone, the poem reclaims agency and expresses humanity in the face of political marginalization by opposing the reduction of Palestinian life to mere statistics.  Thus, this research paper analyzes the poem’s rhetorical elements, including the interaction of irony, repetition, and intertextuality, to highlight its role as a kind of cultural resistance. Ziadah’s assertion of the “subaltern voice” and her resistance to global power structures that support Otherness are highlighted in the interpretation, which situates the poem within the framework of postcolonial philosophy. This research paper also analyzes the poem to show how it might foster empathy, dispel preconceptions, and provoke critical thought about media bias and global injustices.