Crossings: witnessing Gaza

This essay explores Gaza, Gazan writing, and writing about Gaza through the framework of crossings and the denial of crossings, with particular focus on the poetry of witness as an act of border crossing. By attending to Elaine Scarry’s concept of language as a form of self-extension and agency, a way to move beyond the boundaries of the self and speak to, and change, both self and world, and to Carolyn Forché’s exploration of the poetry of witness, the essay invites readers not only to listen carefully to Gazan voices as writers bear testimony to their experiences, but also to consider our own positionality and responsiblity as listeners. It invites consideration of how the concept of the ‘we’ that underlies our understanding of ourselves in the world might expand as we witness and bear witness to Gaza.