Decolonize Drag
Decolonize Drag by Kareem Khubchandani, published by OR Books in 2023, explores the intersection of drag and colonial governance. This 224-page book delves into how drag, often perceived as a queer subcultural practice, has permeated mainstream culture, influenced by the popularity of shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race. Khubchandani examines the complexities of gender performance and its implications, highlighting how certain expressions are marginalized within the broader discourse of drag.
Readers will find an insightful analysis of contemporary drag and its relationship to colonialism, as well as the ways in which performers resist and critique institutional hierarchies. The narrative features Khubchandani’s drag alter ego, LaWhore Vagistan, who provides a personal perspective on the evolving nature of drag. Through this lens, the book investigates the privatization of gender expression and advocates for greater inclusivity in the performance of identity. Decolonize Drag ultimately challenges readers to reconsider the meanings and accessibility of drag across different cultural contexts.
Official synopsis Publisher
Although imagined as a queer subcultural practice, drag seems to be everywhere we look: from AI filters on TikTok to brunchtime entertainment, from state legislations to political rallies. Yet as drag enters the mainstream–largely due to the intense, global popularity of reality TV competition RuPaul’s Drag Race–some kinds of gender-based performance fall out of the purview of what we (could) call drag.
Decolonize Drag details the ways that gender is used as a form of colonial governance to eliminate various types of expression, and tracks how contemporary drag, including that on Drag Race, both replicates and disrupts these institutional hierarchies. This book focuses on several gender performers that resist and laugh at colonial projects through their aesthetic practices. It also features the voice of Khubchandani’s drag alter ego, judgmental South Asian aunty LaWhore Vagistan. From the firsthand perspective of a drag artist, LaWhore describes encounters with depoliticized versions of drag that leave her disappointed and perplexed, and prompts Khubchandani for context and analysis.
Their dynamic sets the tone for the book, investigating how drag–and gender more broadly–has been privatized and delimited so that it’s only available to certain people. Decolonize Drag argues for more abundance in and access to fashioning gender, and considers how drag changes meaning and efficacy as it shifts across geographies.
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