Short Abstract

A prism does not simply reveal hidden colours; it transforms [the process of refraction] light into a spectrum of possibilities. How can we employ queerness as a prism through which multiple dimensions of African experience become visible?

Long Abstract

Drawing inspiration from the ECAS 2027 theme, African Prisms, this panel invites participants to consider queerness as a prism through which multiple dimensions of African experience become visible. Rather than approaching queerness solely through the frameworks of sexuality, identity, or rights, we explore its broader capacity to refract questions of embodiment, desire, spirituality, creativity, kinship, healing, power, and futurity. In an earlier publication (Spronk & Nyeck 2021), we suggested twisting the term ‘queer’ by combining it with the verb ‘to query’: queerying. Unlike the corresponding noun, queerying implies an analytical process of inquiry, curiosity and unfinishedness while its horizon is clear: the arena of life beyond the normative. A prism does not simply reveal hidden colours; it transforms light into a spectrum of possibilities. Similarly, a queerying analytic may illuminate unconventional experiences, archetypal figures, liminal identities, sacred transgressions, and alternative modes of belonging embedded in African histories, indigenous religions, oral traditions, artistic expressions, everyday life practices, and emerging futures. By treating queerness as a generative prism rather than a fixed category, this panel seeks to broaden pathways for understanding African worlds, their plural ontologies, and their possibilities for reimagining the relation between gender, body and desire, the human and the future. The panel welcomes contributions that are focused on working towards a publication.

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