Bodies, words, and afro-queer sounds: towards a poetics of intersectional subversion

Abstract

Afro-Queer poetics emerges as a form of resistance against norms that have historically marginalized racialized and queer bodies. This article examines how Black queer artists, through music, visual performance, poetry and spoken word, subvert dominant structures of gender, sexuality and race. The study maps how these creators challenge colonial and heteronormative expectations, shaping an Afro-Queer space that redefines dissident identities. Their work reveals body and voice as political tools to confront narratives of silence and erasure. Artists such as Linn da Quebrada and Jota Mombaça exemplify this struggle, using their bodies as agents of social and political transformation. By also engaging with the work of Mel Duarte and Bia Ferreira, the article underscores the role of Afro-Queer art as a force of liberation and affirmation, highlighting its relevance in confronting structural racism and coloniality and in shaping plural modes of subjectivity.