Chapter IDENTITY - "The Disidentifying Practice of Drag: a Reading Group on Drag Aesthetics" from 16 May until 25 May

Chapters is a series of interactive programmes for and by the AMFI community, centered around a theme each semester. We’re honored to invite you to the pilot; Chapter - IDENTITY. Click here to see the full programme of Chapter – IDENTITY.

In his seminal book Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics (1999), queer theorist José Esteban Muñoz defines “queer disidentification” as a practice of negotiating normative culture that “simultaneously works on, with, and against, a cultural form” (Muñoz 1999, 12) as a course of action for minoritized subjects to seize social agency in the public domain. This reading group lead by Anthony Nestel will jointly read about and discuss different forms of drag through Muñoz’s concept of disidentification in order to address the aesthetic, political and cultural implications of drag for our worlds.

We will focus on Chapter 4: the White to be Angry.

Anthony Nestel is a theorist and artist based in Amsterdam. Anthony’s theoretical field of interest is queer studies, intercontinental philosophy and Black decolonial studies. Aside from their theoretical research, Anthony is a performance artist with a devoted drag practice.

References: Muñoz, José Esteban. 1999. Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. The chapter we will be reading is freely available online.

More info here.

Title: The Disidentifying Practice of Drag: a Reading Group on Drag Aesthetics | Date: kick-off: 16 May, 17:00. Closing: 25 May, 17:00 | Location: AMFI Library

By: AMFI Library, D&I Team, Anthony Nestel
This event is for AMFI students & staff only.