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Quick Facts

  • Loves abstract art, and considers her son to be one of her favorite artists
  • Owns a sneaker collection
  • Offers opportunities to go to lunch together at Marketplace, the first-year dining hall
Scholars@Duke Bio

Dr. Nikki Lane

Assistant professor of gender, sexuality, & feminist studies

Born and raised in the American South, Dr. Nikki Lane is an interdisciplinary scholar trained as a Cultural and Linguistic Anthropologist. She completed her undergraduate degree at the George Washington University, took courses abroad at the University of Cape Town, and completed her doctorate at American University.Her work explores issues related to American Popular Culture, African American language practices, and sexual cultures throughout the African Diaspora. She is an Assistant Professor in Duke’s Department of Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies.She specializes in using popular culture as an entry point for discussing complex social theory.Her first book titled The Black Queer Work of Ratchet: Race, Gender, Sexuality, and the (Anti)Politics of Respectability explores the use of the word “ratchet” in a community of Black queer women in Washington, DC. An avid reader and self-proclaimed cool-kid/nerd, Dr. Lane can be found moving plates at the gym, reading a book in the library, running after her kid, walking around the quad with her wife, Julie, or grading papers over a steaming cup of tea somewhere on campus.