Afro-Diasporic Dance, Queer Kinship, and the Praxis of Care: Sociopoetic Forces of Embodied Liberation

Abstract: This essay examines a trans and non-binary Afro-diasporic model of Black and Brown gender expression through embodied memory and dance. The proposed afro-diasporic model challenges colonialist binaries that restrict transgender and non-binary peoples of Andean, Indigenous, Afro-Caribbean, and African descent from embodied spiritual expression. In this essay, I affirm Afro-diasporic dance as a form of trans care that informs my own spirited flesh and Black and Brown embodied memory and a pluriversal understanding of the cosmos. How does Afro-diasporic dance serve as a liberatory practice for me?