Gat, kazh, mimit’, katu, ch’cat… When these drag artists call a cat a cat, they do so in the language of their region. A way to assert their heritage but also a perfect playground to create a unique bond with their audience.
La Croustade, queen of Occitan
She greets everyone in Occitan, displays the Occitan cross in her living room and chose for her drag name a culinary specialty from the Southwest. With La Croustade, the language of Occ is never far away. “Comme les autres langues qui ont été maltraitées, y’a degun qui la parle” (“there’s nobody left who speaks it”), regrets the queen, who does not yet feel comfortable improvising in Occitan on stage. On Instagram, however, she speaks exclusively in this language, with subtitles in French. Claiming a drag “absurd and surreal”, she embodies, in turn, a ultra-traditional housewife at the Manif pour tous, a “king chickpea” or a Vin Diesel on 95 unleaded.
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Sophie Brennan