Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife

by Kareem Khubchandani

Ishtyle follows queer South Asian men across borders into gay neighborhoods, nightclubs, bars, and house parties in Bangalore and Chicago. Bringing the cultural practices they are most familiar with into these spaces, these men accent the aesthetics of nightlife cultures through performance. Kareem Khubchandani develops the notion of “ishtyle” to name this accented style, while also showing how brown bodies inadvertently become accents themselves, ornamental inclusions in the racialized grammar of desire. Ishtyle allows us to reimagine a global class perpetually represented as docile and desexualized workers caught in the web of global capitalism. The book highlights a different kind of labor, the embodied work these men do to feel queer and sexy together. Engaging major themes in queer studies, Khubchandani explains how his interlocutors’ performances stage relationships colonial law and public sexuality; film divas and queer fans; and race, caste, and desire. Ultimately, the book demonstrates that the unlikely site of nightlife can be a productive venue for the study of global politics and its institutional hierarchies.

Genres: Queer, Nonfiction, LGBT, India, Fashion, Gender

280 pages, Paperback

First published July 6, 2020

Reviews

[Alok Vaid-Menon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for queer desis!

[Juliana Wullenjohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5- really, really interesting, i’d never thought that deeply about nightlife but analyzing it through and ethnographic lens has given me new insight into the ways that people find community even in situations where they are being policed. i want to watch bollywood films now

[Aaron Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a seriously great book. It uses performance ethnography to track queer South Asians in Bangalore and Chicago as a way of discussing so much more than nightlife. This is about how bodies take up choreography, how choreographies and dance are political, classed, racialized, and gendered. And it's about drag queens and what Khubchandani comes to call "drag labor". It's also just a completely pleasurable read from start to finish. Highly recommended for anyone interested in performance ethnography or drag queens.

[Moxie Dully · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this also I met the author so amazing and cool and smart