Kyle Bikowski
GSS Representative, AnthGrad, 2023-2024
Graduate Student
Biography
Kyle Bikowski is a sociocultural student interested in the anthropology of all things geeky, including video games, comics, science fiction, anime, and horror, as well as issues in science and technology studies, such as techno-religion and Artificial Intelligence. He received his B.A. in anthropology from The University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and his M.A. in anthropology from Louisiana State University.
For his Master's thesis, Kyle combined digital ethnographic methods with Facebook groups and actual world ethnographic methods with a Gaymer (Gay-gamer) community in Houston, Texas. His thesis explored ways in which the Gaymer identity is marked within both mainstream gaming and mainstream gay communities, and how virtual and actual worlds interacted to help shape the identity.
He hopes to continue this work for his Ph.D. dissertation by examining the adoption and performance of the Gaymer identity in Mexico.
Research Interests
- Sociocultural Anthropology
Publications
- Bikowski, Kyle, 2020 Holy Problematics Fabman!: How Current Representations Create a Missed Opportunity for Superhero Comics to Aid in Gay Youth Identity Development. Journal of Gender Studies: 1–10.
Research areas
- Sociocultural Anthropology
