Lessons in Drag

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.

“Shrewdly defying the conventions that often keep academic texts dry and sequestered . . . Khubchandani and Vagistan model a way to integrate research and performance.”

• Introduction: Lessons in Drag Kareem Khubchandani & LaWhore VagistanChapter 1: How to do research Kareem KhubchandaniChapter 2: How to be a drag queen LaWhore VagistanCHapter 3: How to teach Kareem KhubchandaniChapter 4: How to be an aunty LaWhore VagistanChapter 5: How to write Kareem KhubchandaniChapter 6: How to be a map LaWHore VagistanConclusion: How to grieve Kareem KhubchandaniWork Cited and Further Reading