Harvard Hires Drag Queen ‘LaWhore Vagistan’ as Visiting Gender Studies Professor
When he’s not teaching, Kareem Khubchandani performs in drag as a ‘judgmental South Asian aunty.’
While Harvard University faces scrutiny from the federal government over ideological imbalance, the Ivy League institution has appointed as its new visiting professor in gender and sexuality studies a scholar who also performs as a drag artist under the stage name “LaWhore Vagistan.”
Kareem Khubchandani, an associate professor of Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora Studies at Tufts University, will join Harvard for the 2025-2026 academic year to teach courses on “Queer Ethnography” and “RuPaulitics: Drag, Race, and Desire.”
Mr. Khubchandani was hired under a visiting professorship endowment designated for “eminent scholars studying issues related to sexual minorities,” according to Harvard. In his teaching approach, Mr. Khubchandani describes bringing “the nightclub to the classroom, and vice versa, teaching critical race, postcolonial, and gender theory through lipsync and lecture,” according to his website. His appointment was first reported by conservative Harvard outlet, Yard Report.
Mr. Khubchandani, whose biography indicates he uses “any pronouns,” earned his undergraduate degree from Colgate University in 2004 and received a PhD in performance studies from Northwestern University 10 years later. The 41-year-old professor has published several books, including “Decolonize Drag” and “Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife.”
The former examines how “gender is used as a form of colonial governance to eliminate various types of expression” and centers on “several gender performers that resist and laugh at colonial projects through their aesthetic practices.”
When he’s not teaching, Mr. Khubchandani performs in drag under what he describes as his “alter ego” named “LaWhore Vagistan,” which he characterizes as a “judgmental South Asian aunty.” The stage name appears to reference the city of Lahore, Pakistan, consistent with Mr. Khubchandani’s scholarly focus on South Asian queer communities.
Mr. Khubchandani is known for occasionally delivering academic lectures while in drag. He attracted attention in 2019 when he presented at Colgate University in a university-sponsored event while dressed as “LaWhore Vagistan.”
Mr. Khubchandani has not yet responded to the Sun’s request for comment.
