NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
Cambridge, MA, October 3, 2025: Harvard University’s decision to appoint Kareem Khubchandani, an American scholar who performs in drag under the stage name LaWhore Vagistan, as a visiting professor for the 2025–2026 academic year has sparked a wide range of reactions.
Khubchandani, who is currently an associate professor at Tufts University, will teach two courses — Queer Ethnography in the fall and RuPaulitics: Drag, Race, and Desire in the spring — under the university’s Program in Studies of Gender and Sexuality. The latter course will examine the cultural and political influence of RuPaul’s Drag Race through the lens of performance, race, and gender.
The appointment, supported by Harvard’s Gender and Sexuality Caucus under the F.O. Matthiessen Visiting Professorship of Gender and Sexuality, has drawn both praise and criticism. Supporters view the move as a bold step toward diversifying academia and embracing innovative pedagogies that merge performance and scholarship. However, conservative commentators and some education advocates have criticized the selection, calling it emblematic of what they see as higher education’s drift toward ideological extremism. Others have expressed discomfort with Khubchandani’s provocative drag persona and name, “LaWhore Vagistan,” arguing that it undermines academic decorum and distracts from scholarship.
Khubchandani, a sociologist and performance studies scholar, has built a body of work exploring the intersections of gender, race, diaspora, and queer identity. He holds a BA in sociology and anthropology from Colgate University and an MA and PhD in performance studies from Northwestern University. At Tufts, his research and teaching have focused on queer South Asian diasporic communities, nightlife cultures, and performance as a mode of ethnography. He is also the author of Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife and Decolonize Drag, with a forthcoming book, Lessons in Drag: A Queer Manual for Academics, Artists, and Aunties.
As his drag alter ego LaWhore Vagistan, Khubchandani often teaches and performs in character, blending humor, storytelling, and critical theory. In interviews, he has explained that his drag name pays homage to Lahore — his family’s ancestral city — while “Vagistan” playfully reimagines South Asia as a feminist, queer homeland. Through this persona, he seeks to make academic ideas accessible, using performance to illustrate complex social theories and challenge colonial and patriarchal narratives.
Advocates for Khubchandani’s appointment argue that his presence at Harvard will expose students to new methodologies that combine lived experience with critical scholarship. They say drag, as both art and resistance, can illuminate intersections of identity, power, and representation. For many in the LGBTQ+ academic community, his appointment symbolizes progress — an acknowledgment that performance and identity-based scholarship have legitimate places in elite institutions.
Critics, however, have questioned the academic value of courses centered on drag culture and reality television, suggesting that such offerings dilute the intellectual rigor expected at Harvard. Some have voiced concern that performance-based pedagogy may prioritize spectacle over substance, while others view the appointment as part of a larger cultural shift prioritizing activism over scholarship. Despite the backlash, Khubchandani’s supporters insist that challenging conventional boundaries has long been a hallmark of innovation in higher education.
While reactions remain polarized, the appointment is temporary and not part of Harvard’s tenure-track positions, giving the university room to assess its impact. The real measure of Khubchandani’s influence, observers say, will come from student engagement, classroom discourse, and the ability of his courses to foster thoughtful analysis of gender, race, and identity in contemporary culture.
Cover photo credits: Cover of the book, Lessons in Drag: A Queer Manual for Academics, Artists, and Aunties and Tufts University.
