This poem by Wang Ping titled “Things we carry on the sea”. I chose this for the alternative, creative resource because I found this to be a very moving piece. Which talks about the struggles associated with immigration, during the end of the Vietnam War. While reading along to each stanza, you can sense the emotions within it. As the collective group, they metaphorically carry on their back the reasons why they are on the journey of migrating to new away from their homeland. As they don’t own much besides the clothes off their backs and if they are lucky a few personal items that sewed into their clothes. The poem talks about the harsh realities, the reason why they are on the journey whether it’s from war, stripping of resources, these people carry stories with them. Carry all these while on their boats, not sure what the future holds for them, they dream positive thoughts. They are educated people, and how those degrees or positions those people held before might not mean anything once they reach the end of their journey. The theme of this poem relates to the topic of feminization of migration under the neoliberal globalization as we have talked about in class. And the novel RU we read in class, which also depicted the situation of being in those boats crammed every direction with bodies.
I chose this poem as a useful creative resource towards intersectional, decolonial and transnational praxis. Because of struggles we have learned that come with being a refugee throughout the class this semester. Whether that is a family member who has left to find better work away their family to support, under the practices of neoliberal globalization. As I talked above in the top paragraph, I found this poem to be worthy of putting on our class blog as it can help anyone who reads it to better understand the harsh realities. As people who now have no home besides the boat they are floating in, leaving behind families members and comfort/ security.
Keywords: Neoliberal Globalization, immigration, feminzation of migration
Author: Zachary Geddes
This is an incredibly beautiful but solemn poem. I found it to be really moving. It tells the story of refugees and how they are fighting to survive in a world with war and conflict. Refugees leave their countries with nothing but a few items and the clothes on their backs. they are trying to escape and flee from the country they have lived in for their whole lives. These people typically do not want to leave their homes, but do so to search for safety and asylum. If they do not leave they might die. It is important to tell their stories because then we can learn about how war and terror displaces many people and changes their lives…