Performance Studies International (PSi) is pleased to announce the winner of the 2024 Outstanding Work on Critical Race Performance Studies Award: Ali Na.

Ali Na’s article, “My Gender is Precolonial: Transtemporal Minoritarian Aesthetics in ‘Diwata,'” was published in QED: A Journal of GLBTQ Worldmaking in 2023. The article engages with the visual art piece “Diwata,” created by artists Renz, Natu, and Ram at the 2021 Southeast Asia Queer Cultural Festival, arguing that their work challenges contemporary anti-queer and anti-trans norms through the embodiment of pre-colonial mythologies.

By offering a queer Southeast Asian perspective, Ali Na’s research provides a vital contribution to critical race performance studies, enriching the discourse and expanding the understanding of queer and trans histories.

Congratulations to Ali Na for this well-deserved recognition!

Elvis Bendana Rivas