Teaching the Children: Mirror Talks as Pedagogical Acts on RuPaul’s Drag Race

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 11:40 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: The Library Is Open: Contributions to a Special Issue on Drag Pedagogies (Table 10)

Abstract

This paper employs content analysis to examine “mirror talks” from 35 episodes from various seasons of the American reality television show RuPaul's Drag Race, arguing that they serve as pedagogical tools for teaching about drag culture and the LGBTQ community. These mirror talks, selected from different points in the show’s 15-season history, offer rich insights into how drag is used to communicate and educate audiences about the diverse histories, values, and practices that shape a multicultural and inclusive drag community in the United States. The paper also explains how the mirror talks serve as liminal spaces in which contestants explore their gender and sexual identities, individual and collective memories, and the cultural politics of drag.

Author

• Christian A. Bracho, California State University - Long Beach