The Library Is Open: Reading RuPaul’s Drag Race in a Time of Drag Bans

Session Type: Paper Session

Abstract

This symposium considers the impact of RuPaul’s Drag Race (RPDR) as a social and cultural phenomenon linked to educational discourses and pedagogical acts in the US. We interrogate RPDR as a mechanism for, as RuPaul Charles often notes, “teaching the children” about drag—but in this case, “the children” refers to the show’s diverse viewership, which include gay, straight, bisexual, and trans people, many of whom may not have access to the diverse LGBTQ+ narratives and figures that have characterized queer, trans histories and mobilized queer, trans movements in the US.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education

Chair

• Shamari Reid, New York University

Papers

• Teaching the Children: RuPaul’s Drag Race as a Pedagogical Act - Christian A. Bracho, California State University - Long Beach

• If You Don't Love Yourself, How in the Hell You Gonna Love Somebody Else? - Heather Macías, California State University - Long Beach

• "Bringing Families Together”: Toward Utopian Imaginings of LGBTQ+ Solidarities - Danny C. Martinez, University of California - Davis; Elizabeth Montaño, University of California - Davis

• All the Tea and All the Shade—It's More Than Drag: A QueerCriT Analysis - Cleveland Hayes, Indiana University - Indianapolis