Kareem Khubchandani traces his trajectory across three intellectual projects on queer Indian nightlife, drag performance and decolonization, and the figure of the aunty in South Asian public culture, to explore co-constitutive relationships between research, teaching, and artistry. This talk maps out his academic personas:-member of queer dance group The Pink Divas, South Asian drag queen, Aunty. Khubchandani moves across genres of the artist talk and research essay to center and interrogate the academic's body. Where the scholar's body is often obscured in preference for their mind, evacuating the body from academic labor is a luxury rarely available to queer people of color. This talk provides an opportunity to think about the pitfalls and possibilities of self-fashioning in the academy for minoritarian subjects.

Kareem Khubchandani is Mellon Bridge assistant professor in theater, dance, and performance studies, and women's, gender, and sexuality studies at Tufts University, and author of Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife (U of Michigan Press, 2020).