Last Thursday and Friday, the College hosted DragFest, a two-day event consisting of workshops, talks and performances celebrating drag culture. The events were organized by the theater and dance and gender, sexuality and women’s studies (GSWS) departments in collaboration with the Sexuality, Women and Gender Center (SWAG).

DragFest kicked off on Thursday night with a performance by LaWhore Vagistan, the drag persona of Kareem Khubchandani, a professor and researcher of queer studies with a focus on the South Asian diaspora. On Friday afternoon, Khubchandani’s most recent book, “Lessons in Drag: A Queer Manual for Academics, Artists, and Aunties” was the topic of a talk between Associate Professor of GSWS Angel Matos, who studies queer youth media, and Khubchandani.

The conversation between Khubchandani and Matos, organized by Assistant Professor of Dance Adanna Jones, Associate Professor of GSWS Keona Ervin and Director of SWAG Natalie Turrin, centered around bringing innovative and unconventional methods into academia.

“As someone who often frames my courses as opportunities to examine underexplored and innovative methods, [Khubchandani’s] scholarship and approaches to teaching resonate with my own,” Matos wrote in an email to the Orient. “[Khubchandani’s] scholarship focuses on blurring the imagined boundaries we build in culture, society and academia. What happens when we bring in the countercultural and creative energy of drag into the classroom? What occurs when we think of the performance stage as a space for teaching?”

Similarly, Khubchandani’s work focuses on “uplifting the creative ways that minoritarian subjects live inside of oppressive structures, especially how we use dance, fashion and language to build something more beautiful for each other.”

Matos also highlighted the importance of breaking the boundaries of what is considered academic and incorporating playfulness into scholarship.

“Children’s and young adult culture typically isn’t approached with much prestige, especially in academic settings, where much of the focus is on the ‘fun’ nature of our work rather than the seriousness of the claims and examinations that we mobilize,” Matos wrote. “Similar dynamics manifest with the study of drag, and people with little to no familiarity with the history of drag performance tend to approach the craft as ‘frivolous,’ ‘nonsensical’ or ‘aberrant.’”

For Matos, the idea of drag is intimately tied to the mission of the College, highlighting the importance of DragFest coming to campus.

“Bowdoin is guided by an overarching focus on the common good, which it broadly approaches as providing space and opportunities for using the tools of empathy, context and history to develop more open and accessible fields of study. Oftentimes, we throw around this concept as an idea or aspiration, but it’s harder to see it in action and practice, especially during a time where space and creative expression are being framed more and more as luxuries rather than necessities,” Matos wrote.

The ubiquity and broadening definition of drag was another motivator to bring these events and speakers to campus.

“Whether people acknowledge it or not, drag has been a vital component of our cultural landscape and legacy, influencing everything from fashion, to art, to academic research.… Drag is everywhere: Your professor who teaches in a suit or tweed jacket is performing for an audience, students fashion and move their bodies to either blend in or stand out. The newcomer to Maine wears flannel as if it were protective armor,” he said.

The weekend also featured a vogue and catwalking workshop led by Aquarius Funkk, a queer Afrofuturist performance artist, before culminating with a dance party and mini drag competition in Smith Union on Friday night, which featured a dance performance by student dance group the Cowboys.

Luke Purinton ’28, who attended Friday night’s events, commented on the energy in Smith.

“The drag fest was epic. An experience like nothing I have done before, and I would do it again,” Purinton said.