RESEARCH
I received my PhD in performance studies at Northwestern University in 2014, and was subsequently the inaugural Embrey Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. During my PhD program, I began doing research on queer nightlife in India and the South Asian diaspora. At the center of my research is the search for artistry in everyday life, whether it is dance in the nightclub that allows people to feel something more than the everyday or in the ways fashion is used to protest surveillance. My essays and books draw on a wide archive that includes extensive transnational ethnography, diasporic film, visual art, family film and photo archives, and more. Feel free to message me to request PDFs of any of the essays.
BOOKS
University of Michigan Press (2020)
University of Michigan Press (2021)
In development for
OR Books
In development.
JOURNAL ESSAYS
Porn Studies
2022
South Asia, Journal of South Asian Studies
2020
South Asian Multidisciplinary
Academic Journal
2019
Scholar and Feminist Online
2018
Journal of Asian American Studies
2016
The Velvet Light Trap
2016
Theatre Topics
2016
Theatre Topics
2015
Transgender Studies Quarterly
2014
BOOK CHAPTERS
BETWEEN BODIES AND SCREENS: NEW QUEER PERFORMANCE IN BANGALORE
CRUISING THE EPHEMERAL ARCHIVES OF BANGALORE’S QUEER NIGHTLIFE
AUNTY FEVER: A QUEER IMPRESSION
BOLLYWOOD AFFECTS: FEELING BROWN WITH MEENA KUMARI
Theatre After Empire
Routledge
2021
SHORT ESSAYS
I'D RATHER BE VALENTINA THAN A DRAG QUEEN
Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience
2021
INTIMACIES
Amerasia
2021
A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS: QUEER PEDAGOGY IN THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE
Theatre Topics
2020
QUEER GENEALOGIES – REMEMBERING THE FUTURE
Theatre Topics
2016