Who is Kareem Khubchandani? LaWhore Vagistan trends online as Harvard hires drag queen as visiting professor

Harvard University is generating news because it has appointed Kareem Khubchandani, a Tufts University professor and a drag queen, as a visiting faculty member.

Khubchandani, who also performs under the stage name LaWhore Vagistan, will be teaching the combination of performance and culture in queer studies this academic year. These appointments have generated a lot of conversation and attention online, with LaWhore Vagistan trending online.

Khubchandani is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at Tufts University, where their research areas include performance studies, queer studies, and cultural expressions from South Asia.

🚨 JUST IN: HARVARD HIRES “DRAG QUEEN PROFESSOR” 🚨

The Ivy League has officially brought on Kareem Khubchandani — better known by his drag name “LaWhore Vagistan” — to teach students in the Gender & Sexuality program.

📚 Classes include:
•Queer Ethnography (Fall)… pic.twitter.com/cn1KgOWJFb

— Wienerdogwifi (@wienerdogwifi) October 2, 2025

They hold a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology from Colgate University. Their scholarship has received attention and acknowledgment in performance and cultural studies.

Khubchandani is the author of Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife (2020), which is an award-winning text and Decolonize Drag (2020). They have additionally co-edited Queer Nightlife, while curating the project Critical Auntie Studies.

According to the New York Post, their forthcoming work is titled Lessons in Drag: A Queer Manual for Academics, Artists, and Aunties, and will be released later this year.

Kareem Khubchandani's persona of LaWhore Vagistan

Outside of the classroom, Khubchandani has created a performance alter ego known as LaWhore Vagistan. For over a decade, this drag persona has been an integral part of their pedagogy that includes humor, cultural critique, and storytelling.

The name itself is wordplay: “LaWhore” references Lahore, a city in Pakistan that connects to their family’s heritage, while “Vagistan” humorously reconsiders the South Asian subcontinent.

Khubchandani has engaged in both lecturing and performance as LaWhore Vagistan and integrated drag into academic teaching. LaWhore Vagistan has been staged in performances, public talks, and a music video titled Sari.

Khubchandani is set to teach a pair of courses as part of Harvard's visiting faculty. In the fall, they will be leading Queer Ethnography, and in the spring, RuPaulitics: Drag, Race, and Desire. The latter course will focus on the cultural politics of RuPaul's Drag Race.

The position was made possible by support from the Harvard Gender and Sexuality Caucus. The university's announcement states that Khubchandani's appointment reflects Harvard's ongoing commitment to expanding its curriculum regarding performance, sexuality, and identity.

Khubchandani’s new role has become the talk of social media, where LaWhore Vagistan quickly began trending. Supporters have lauded Harvard for increasing academic diversity and being open minded toward different teaching practices, while critics have taken issue with the attention grabbing drag name and a drag performer in the classroom.

Kareem Khubchandani's unique bond as an academic and drag artist subverts traditional notions of the line between the academy and the arts.

Now, with their appointment at Harvard, Khubchandani is likely to inspire debate in both informal and more formal contexts, as both their scholarship and drag performance continue to elicit debate across cultural and institutional lines.