Kumkum's Queer Trans Conjure Across Kala Pani

As the first example of queer trans poetry from Mauritius, Kama La Mackerel's debut book of poems, ZOM-FAM (2020), stands out as a milestone text. More than representation, ZOM-FAM is an expression of Creole decolonial gender within the archipelago's braided legacies of enslavement and indenture that embrace queer archival logics through poetic form. As La Mackerel imagines a transfemme ancestor named Kumkum within this entangled setting, her presence is emphasized as a moment of conjure. Mobilizing Gaiutra Bahadur's notion of subjunctive history as a way of encountering the archives of indenture—that which could be—what does it mean for La Mackerel to invent her own transfemme ancestor through poetry? This question extends queer indenture studies toward decolonial gender. Additionally, La Mackerel's intentional interspersing of Mauritian Creole (Kreol) in her poetry offers generative approaches to animating kala pani. Ultimately, La Mackerel makes space for the poetics of decolonial language and decolonial gender to dwell within each other across kala pani.