Description

This third and final volume in Edward and Farrier's groundbreaking trilogy spotlights the vibrant spectrum of drag as an art form, identity category and political force. Drawing on practice, research, and interdisciplinary approaches, the volume captures drag's continual capacity to challenge, critique and create.

Drawing from a range of academic disciplines, including critical disability studies, media, philosophy, linguistics, the book celebrates the many faces – and possibilities – of drag as a cultural and performance form. The contributions include chapters that are assertively activist, deeply reflective, and thought provoking.

This third volume goes in search of new conversations through the exploration of critical drag studies. The frameworks that formulate these conversations advocate for a broader, inclusive vision of drag, while not shying away from some of its problematic components. The chapters peek behind the glamourous veneer of drag, exposing the grit and sweat that underpin the performance, while winking at the theory that we may use to understand. Drag Vistas and Visions sees drag through a transformative lens that pushes boundaries and transcends the ordinary.

Table of Contents

Preface: Mark Edward and Stephen Farrier

Notes on Contributors

Foreword by Cheddar Gorgeous
1. From Mainstream to Contextual Drag: Visionary Methods for “Ordinary” Drag, Mark Edward and Stephen Farrier
2. Decolonising Drag: When Queer Asian Artists Do Drag, Hongwei Bao
3. Charting Progress: Chinese Drag Performances 2010-2020, Tan Chengyu
4. “My first words were knock-knock-knock housekeeping”: Queer Femme Brownness, Humor, and Whiteness' Performative Drag, Michael Tristano Jr. and Lore/tta LeMaster
5. Drag Queens as Figure Heads in the Struggle for LGBTQ+ Rights, Garjan Sterk
6. Contemporary Drag in the Shadow of RuPaul's Drag Race: Adaption, Elevation and Contestation, Mark McCormack and Fiona Measham
7. Getting Classy with Drag Performance: Class as Framework, Stephen Farrier
8. Same Old Thing in Brand New Drag: Bowie, Drag, Camp and the Singular Vision of the Ever-Changing Cis White Duke, Matthew Pateman
9. Camp Quips: drag, access and queer crip joy as an act of resistance, Amelia Lander-Cavallo and Al Lander-Cavallo
10. How Does a Dyke Perform Herself? Accessorized Identity in 3 Acts, Wendy Chapkis
11. Linguistics of Drag: Drag Queens and Linguistic Performance of “Feminine” Identity, Maria Szymanska
12. You've Been Framed: Sketching Out the Contours of a Drag-Queer Interpretive Framework, Mark Edward and Chris Greenough.
Afterword: Yet, Not The Last Word, Mark Edward and Stephen Farrier

Product details

Explore Methuen Drama
Published 24 Jul 2025
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 232
ISBN 9781350373549
Imprint Methuen Drama
Illustrations 13 b&w
Series Methuen Drama Engage
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Mark Edward

Dr Mark Edward is a pracademic and Reader…

Anthology Editor

Stephen Farrier

Dr Stephen Farrier is Reader in Theatre and Perfor…

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