This is the Oppressors Language
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA, Winter 2020
In this long-form poem, I expanded on the quote from the poem “The Burning of Papers Instead of Children” by Adrienne Rich, “This is the oppressor’s language, but I need it to speak to you.” The work produced addresses my own uses and transformation of the english language into a location of healing. With reference to bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, I question the ways that language can be morphed and mutated into speech. Simultaneously, I question conditions of subjugation under the rule of nation-states and imagine alternative modes of self-governance and liberation.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b7ee16927a4aa32087490f6a3103abb80293ca9a94dcab4b95ea865b4fa59559/Screen-Shot-2022-12-02-at-4.32.54-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cf5980a3e782e3c12da182b293f297432ff21a05a5647d6ad9c82e7478fc2a70/Screen-Shot-2022-12-02-at-4.33.13-PM.png)