There is no other: Dúchas, Levinas and interconnectedness as poetic restoration

Drawing on the concept of Dúchas, a pre-colonial Gaelic world view and the Levinasian concept of le dire, this article employs dialogical ethnopoetic analysis to counter the dehumanisation of the other in the context of the siege and ongoing aggression in Gaza. The article proposes interconnectedness, solidarity, empathetic witnessing and critical hope as a Freirean-informed ethical response to despair in the face of plausible genocide in Gaza. The poetic approach adopted in this article is intended to recalibrate the academic discourse and open a space for dialogue in which interconnectedness ripples outward beyond the essentialist representations of self and other. Through this poetic and Dúchas-informed decolonial approach, the work aims to challenge oppressive narratives and promote a model of critically informed dialogue in intercultural studies.