Kyle Bikowski is a PhD Candidate in Sociocultural Anthropology under the joint advisement of Dr. Brady G’Sell and Dr. Laura Graham (Emeritus). He holds a BA in Anthropology from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and an MA from Louisiana State University.

Kyle’s broad research interests center around the interaction of digital and analog places through globalized geek culture (video games, comics, science-fiction, anime, and horror) and the role these play in the formation and performance of masculine identities and their associated communities.

For his dissertation project, Kyle is working with a group of Gaymers (Gay-gamers) in Querétaro, Mexico. Kyle’s project focus on how joy, fun, and play serve as means and methods to form, perform, and maintain queer identities in digital and analog places.

Kyle’s Research has been supported through both internal and external funding. From the University of Iowa, Kyle has received the Stanly Award for International Research, the T. Anne Cleary International Dissertation Research Fellowship, and the June Helm Graduate Student Scholarship. Externally, Kyle received a Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant and was a semi-finalist for the 2023 Fulbright Garcia Robles Award.