One's Freedom is Another's Cage

A Poetic Inquiry into the Colonization of Public Spaces

Abstract

This work challenges the ways that people, predominantly white men, use their bodies and voices to centre themselves in public spaces and identifies the reactions of others to centre the men as well. By paying attention to my somatic knowledge and embodied experiences, I developed a more intricate understanding of the concept of “colonizing the space.” Through poetry, I share lived experiences of this phenomenon in an effort to draw attention to how we engage with each other in our communities and public spaces. As importantly, I imagine and celebrate responses that do not cage or marginalize our voices and bodies but “claim the sky” (Angelou, 1983, p. 19) and sing.