Auntologies: Queer Aesthetics and South Asian Aunties
301 19th Ave S
Minneapolis,
MN
55455
The figure of the aunty is ubiquitous in South Asian public culture. Most recently, incumbent New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani repeatedly named the “aunties” that tirelessly supported his mayoral campaign. This is not an uncalculated mention and has many precedents. During Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential run, she described herself as “Auntie” on her Twitter profile and had a “chitthi brigade” of South Indian aunties supporting her campaign. In 2016 an Indian newspaper caused a national stir by labeling a politician “aunty national.” The mention of “aunties” in South Asian contexts is vexed, inviting both warmth and revulsion. This talk draws on the tools of queer studies to demonstrate how the study of aunties can elucidate important questions of gender, sexuality, and normativity.
The event will be followed by a book signing & reception.
For accessibility accommodations, please contact Tamara Hageman ([email protected]).
Presenter & Moderator
Kareem Khubchandani is Associate Professor of theater, dance, and performance studies at Tufts University and F.O. Matthiessen Visiting Associate Professor of women, gender, and sexuality studies at Harvard University. He is the author of the award-winning books Decolonize Drag and Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife. He is also co-editor of the Lambda Literary-nominated Queer Nightlife, guest editor of Text and Performance Quarterly’s “Critical Aunty Studies,” and associate editor for GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. His new book, Lessons in Drag: A Queer Manual for Academics, Artists, and Aunties is now out from Brandeis University Press.
Relevant Publications & Media
- Lessons in Drag: A Queer Manual for Academics, Artists, and Aunties (Brandeis University Press 2025)
- 'How to be an Auntie' by LaWhore Vagistan | TEDxTufts
- 'Sari' by LaWhore Vagistan, feat. Auntie Kool Jams
Elliott H. Powell is Associate Professor of American Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of Minnesota. His work sits at the intersections of race, sexuality, and popular music. He is the author of Sounds from the Other Side: Afro-South Asian Collaborations in Black Popular Music (University of Minnesota Press, 2020), which received the Woody Guthrie Book Award from the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (US-Branch) as well as the American Musicological Society’s Philip Brett Book Award (given by the AMS LGBTQ Study Group). He’s currently at work on a book titled Erotic City, which examines the intertwined worlds of music and sex in Minneapolis during the 1980s. Other writings can be found in many journals and edited volumes like GLQ, the Journal of Popular Music Studies, the Jazz Research Journal, Amerasia Journal, Hip Hop Studies and Queer Black Feminism, and The Black Scholar (for which he co-edited their first queer and trans special issue). He previously served as co-editor of the Journal of Popular Music Studies.
Event Co-Sponsors
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CLA's Office for Diversity, Inclusion, Community Engagement, and Equity
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Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender & Sexuality Studies (RIDGS)
Land Acknowledgment
The Department of American Studies acknowledges that the land we are on today is the traditional and ancestral homeland of Daḳota people. The University of Minnesota is founded as a land-grant institution and we recognize that our founding came at a dire cost to Daḳota people. Daḳota people were forced to cede their lands in return for goods and services, but the government did not uphold the terms of these treaties, leading to widespread devastation. We recognize this painful past, and we honor Daḳota peoples’ history on this land, their sovereignty, and their continued contributions to our region.
Minnesota comes from the Daḳota name for this region, Mni Sota Maḳoce—“the land where the waters reflect the skies.” Daḳota and numerous other Indigenous peoples, whose cultural, spiritual, and economic practices are intrinsically woven to this landscape, hold this land sacred. We recognize them as original stewards of this land and all the relatives within it, who had thriving and vibrant communities prior to disruption by settlers. Today, the State of Minnesota shares geography with eleven Tribal Nations. By offering this land acknowledgement, we affirm tribal sovereignty and hold the University of Minnesota accountable to recognize and counter the historical and contemporary injustices that continue to impact Indigenous people, through mutually beneficial partnerships, research, policies, and practices that respect Indigeneity.
About the David Noble Lecture
David Noble was Professor of American Studies at the University of Minnesota who retired in 2009 after over 50 years of teaching. Professor Noble made substantial contributions to the discipline of American studies.
Each spring, the Department of American Studies presents the annual David Noble Lecture in his honor, which features a groundbreaking scholar of American studies who offers fresh perspectives on our history and culture. Learn more about the David Noble Lecture.