Aunty Aesthetics, or More Ways to Be an Aunty

Aunties are known to be terrifying figures, domineering and difficult, overbearing to younger generations. They are especially known for managing and curtailing desire, whether shaming you for that extra piece of cake you are eyeing or blabbing to your parents about your nighttime escapes. As such, they have become the butt of the joke, particularly in meme culture that critiques older generations’ outmoded style and politics. This talk revisits the hegemonic figure of the South Asian aunty in performance, TV, literature, and visual culture to detail what paying attention to her aesthetics can teach us about the queer and trans futures she makes possible rather than forecloses.

Kareem Khubchandani is associate professor in theater, dance, and performance studies at Tufts University. He is the author of the multiple award-winning Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife (University of Michigan Press, 2020). Kareem is also coeditor of Queer Nightlife (University of Michigan Press, 2021) and guest editor of “Critical Aunty Studies,” a special issue of Text and Performance Quarterly.