Lessons in Drag: A Queer Manual for Academics, Artists, and Aunties - Paperback

by Kareem Khubchandani (Author)

Scholarship and performance combine to show how drag can be a blueprint for critique, care, teaching, and worldmaking.

Lessons in Drag brings to life a vibrant and thought-provoking dialogue between scholar Kareem Khubchandani and his drag persona LaWhore Vagistan. Beginning with an intimate interview, the book unfolds in alternating chapters where the two exchange insights, stories, and critiques. Khubchandani delves into the lessons LaWhore's drag practice offers about academia--shaping his approaches to research, teaching, and writing--while Vagistan reveals how Khubchandani's scholarship influences her performances, inspiring her understanding of fashion, music, divas, and aunties. Together, their reflections and conversations weave a compelling tapestry of drag's instructive power. Witty, bold, and deeply personal, Lessons in Drag is both an invitation to explore drag as a practice and a celebration of its transformative potential.

Author Biography

Kareem Khubchandani is associate professor of theater, dance, and performance studies and associate professor of studies in race, colonialism, and diaspora at Tufts University. He is the author of Decolonize Drag and Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife and the coeditor of Queer Nightlife. LaWhore Vagistan is your favorite aunty's favorite aunty--always over-dressed, over-educated, and over-opinionated. Her music videos, including "Sari" and "There's a Stranger in My House," have been featured at international film festivals. In 2009, she cofounded the queer South Asian party Jai Ho! in Chicago, and in 2023, she launched Dragistan, an annual South Asian drag showcase in New York.