Drag Histories, Herstories and Hairstories

Drag in a Changing Scene Volume 2

Stephen Farrier editor Mark Edward editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:28th Jul '22

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Drag Histories, Herstories and Hairstories cover

The chapters in the book not only examine drag histories, but also what drag does with history, how it enacts or tells stories about remembering and the past. It features work about the USA, UK and Ireland, Japan, Australia, Brazil and Barbados.

Drawing on rich interdisciplinary research that has laced the emerging subject of drag studies as an academic discipline, this book examines how drag performance is a political, socio-cultural practice with a widespread lineage throughout the history of performance. This volume maps the multi-threaded contexts of contemporary practices while rooting them in their fabulous historical past and memory. The book examines drag histories and what drag does with history, how it enacts or tells stories about remembering and the past. Featuring work about the USA, UK and Ireland, Japan, Australia, Brazil and Barbados, this book allows the reader to engage with a range of archival research including camp and history; ethnicity and drag; queering ballet through drag; the connections between drag king and queen history; queering pantomime performance; drag and military veterans; Puerto Rican drag performers and historical film.

Drag research has arrived. This volume by Edward and Farrier is a triumphant celebration of the critical, creative and speculative potentials of drag. The authors confidently embrace the complexities of drag and offer an affirmative map of its many forms, politics, and contexts. Future drag scholarship will be indebted to the provocations and case studies captured within these pages: from the ‘sequin method’ for historiography to queering panto. I am feeling the fantasy. * Rachel Hann, Northumbria University, UK *
From its playful title right through to its pantomimic concluding chapter, Drag Histories, Herstories and Hairstories is an exuberant, informed romp through the history of this most transgressive, protean, and wonderfully queer art form. Editors Mark Edward and Stephen Farrier have done a fabulous job in bringing together a panoply of academics, commentators, practitioners, and activists to cast some important light onto drag’s complex and fascinating past. * Emma Rees, University of Chester, UK *
This volume of essays makes a valuable and, yes, entertaining contribution to drag histories and herstories (the hairstories are in there, too), bringing a range of perspectives on performance cultures and performers that are illuminating. The sense of fun, passion and energy of so many performers and performance cultures are celebrated, documented and subjected to valuable critique here. -- Professor Anne Pender * Australian Drama Studies *

ISBN: 9781350198517

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

256 pages