Rupedagogies of Realness: Essays on Teaching and Learning with Rupaul’s Drag Race

Pencils down--graphite and eyebrow--and eyes to front of the room for this one-of-a-kind lesson. Since debuting over a decade ago, the world of RuPaul’s Drag Race has steadily collected both popular and academic interests. This collection of original essays presents insightful analyses and a range of critical perspectives on Drag Race from across the globe. Topics covered include language and linguistics, cultural appropriation, racism, health, wealth, the realities of reality television, digital drag and naked bodies. Though varied in topical focus, each essay centers public pedagogy to examine what and how Drag Race teaches its audience. The goal of this book is to frame Drag Race as a classroom, one that is helpful for both teachers and students alike. With an academic-yet-accessible tone and an interdisciplinary approach, essays celebrate and examine the show and its spin-offs from the earliest seasons to the very start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Lindsay Bryde is an award-winning English and education studies instructor with research interests in pop culture, film studies, distance learning, pedagogy, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). She is currently the educational technologist for the Long Island region at SUNY Empire State College. Tommy Mayberry is an academic drag queen who researches and teaches gender, pedagogy, performance, pop culture, language, literature, and reality TV. They are currently the executive director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada).