Two US-based South Asian drag queens, Faluda Islam and LaWhore Vagistan, discuss the aesthetics of their practices: pastiche as a mode of re-making the world; death as well as conviviality as strategies in drag; camp theory in relation to race and ethnicity; and “queer Muslim futures.” This talk was curated and moderated by Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, and co-sponsored by the NYU Center for the Study of Gender & Sexuality. 

Traoré’s 2017 film reminds us that the border itself is a problematic institution. Even in its most stripped-down form, a border exists for the exercise of power against those populations whose movements it controls. Who crosses—and at what cost—depends on lines of race, class, and gender. 

Over at the National Humanities Center’s On the Human website, Paula Moya has posted a fascinating piece on cultural neuroscience, science reporting, and race.