“TROUSERS 2, DRESS 1”: Performing Intersecting Queer, Deaf, African Identities in a Signed Renga (Collaborative Poem)
by Ruth Z. Morgan and Rezenet Moges with John Meletse and Daline Maasdorp

This article explores how intersectional identities emerge collaboratively in gendered and queered signed poetry. We analyze the thematic and poetic features of a signed renga (collaborative poem), titled “TROUSERS 2, DRESS 1,” performed by three poets. The poem displays a unique intersectional experience of each poet in terms of their three marginalized identities: Queer, Deaf, and Black African. Using the frameworks of Crenshaw’s intersectionality (1989, 1991) and Sandahl’s (2003) cripping practice, we reflect on the process of how these identities collaboratively emerge in the renga as it transforms individual experiences into liberating journeys. We also incorporate the analysis of sociolinguistic features associated with butch and gay sign language in an attempt to grasp the essence of gendered and queered poetry.