Assistant Professor

About

  • Website:

    http://nikoliattai.com

  • Office Hours:

    By Appointment

  • Role:

    Faculty

  • Position:

    • Assistant Professor
    • Director, RaGE Collective

  • Department:

    • Ethnic Studies

  • Education:

    • PhD Women and Gender Studies. University of Toronto
    • MPhil Cultural Studies, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Trinidad and Tobago
    • BA Media and Communication, University of the West Indies, Mona Jamaica

Biography

Dr. Nikoli Attai is an Assistant Professor of Race, Gender, and Ethnic Studies, focusing on Black queer and feminist studies. He received his PhD in Women and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto, a Master of Philosophy in Cultural Studies, and a Bachelor of Arts in Media and Communication from the University of the West Indies. His first book, titled Defiant Bodies: Making Queer Community in the Anglophone Caribbean, published by Rutgers University Press, explores queer politics in Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Toronto. Utilizing transnational feminist, Black queer studies, Caribbean sexualities studies, and transgender studies frameworks, He examines how working-class queer and trans people are co-opting, re-imagining, and re-articulating space in these Caribbean sites that are often hostile for persons who fail to adhere to dominant expectations of legible gender and sexuality. He also considers how experiences in these sites allow us to better understand queer life in the Caribbean beyond narratives of mortality, disease, and a need to flee violence.

Alongside his colleague Dr. Caridad Souza, he co-manages the RaGE Collective. This collaborative research hub investigates how race, gender, and sexuality inform a sense of belonging in varied political, cultural, social, economic, and historical contexts in the US and beyond. He works closely with students by providing a space to nurture and inspire innovative and exciting research. One of the hub's main projects is the Undergraduate Academy of Feminist Scholars (UGAFS), which provides training in transnational feminist research, and students are now embarking on a study to document the experiences of trans and gender diverse students at the university.

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION

  • Black Queer and Feminist Studies
  • Caribbean Sexualities Studies
  • Transnational Gender and Sexualities Studies
  • Community-centered Decolonial Research Methods

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

The Queer Archives of Trinidad and Tobago
Funded by the Duke Center for Documentary Studies DocX Development Lab, the Caribbean Institute in Gender and Development (CIGAD), and the Caribbean Digital Scholarship Collective (CDSC), Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto, and CAISO: Sex and Gender Justice in Trinidad and Tobago.

View the Queer Archives of T&T here: https://queerarchivestt.org/

The Coloniality of Refusain Trinidad and Tobago Carnival - This ethnographic project interrogates the coloniality of refusal in Trinidad and Tobago's carnival celebrations. It examines the ways that Trinidadians and Tobagonians, particularly those who are Black, working class, LGBTIQ+, and otherwise marginalized, can occupy the festivities to express themselves through creative, cultural, sacred, and political rituals.

Indebted Queers: An Investigation of Queer Caribbean Refugee Migration in the Netherlands
This ethnographic research project examines how queer refugees in the Netherlands are impacted by prevailing racial, political, cultural, and social dynamics when they migrate through asylum mechanisms.

Publications

Attai, Nikoli. 2023. Defiant Bodies: Making Queer Community in the Anglophone Caribbean. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Attai, Nikoli, Krystal Nandini Ghisyawan, Rajanie Preity Kumar and Carla Moore. 2020. "Tales from the Field: Myths and Methodologies for Researching Same Sex–Desiring People in the Caribbean." In Beyond Homophobia: Centring LGBTQ Experiences in the Anglophone Caribbean. Edited by Mojitos Anderson and Erin MacCleod. Kingston: University of the West Indies Press.

Cornel Grey and Nikoli Attai. 2019. “Revisiting LGBT Rights in the Caribbean: Talking Across Difference”. In The Oxford Handbook of Global LGBT and Sexual Diversity Studies. Edited by Michael J. Bosia, Sandra M. McEvoy and Momin Rahman. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Attai, Nikoli. 2017. “Let’s Liberate the Bullers! Toronto Human Rights Activism and Implications for Caribbean Strategies.” In The Journal of Eastern Caribbean Studies Volume 42(3):97-121.

Courses

  • ETST 201 Intro to Queer Studies

    This course provides an intersectional framework for understanding theoretical, historical, and contemporary applications of queer theory and queer studies in a transnational context. By analyzing multiple perspectives, we will engage in an overview of queer culture, politics, and social justice activism across social, political, cultural, and spatial geographies.

  • ETST 412 Africa and the African Diaspora

    An Interdisciplinary investigation of retention, transformation, and creation of culture in plantation economies of Americas.

  • ETST 305 Ethnicity Class and Gender in the US

    This course explains how ethnicity, class, and gender function as categories of difference that intersect and confirm each other. Drawing on various intersectional fields of study, we will examine ethnicity, class, and gender as social constructions that structure and determine the life chances of various groups in the United States, particularly Black and People of Color. We will learn how notions of ethnicity, class, and gender are produced to shape relationships within the United States, and how these conceptions influence relations of difference across various how aggrieved groups.

  • ETST 411 Black Feminisms

    This course delves into the rich intellectual tradition of Black feminisms and explores their critical insights into the fear of the Black body. Through interdisciplinary perspectives, students will analyze the ways Black feminists have challenged, deconstructed, and reconstructed notions surrounding systemic anti-Blackness, ultimately providing tools for understanding and addressing this pervasive fear.

  • ETST 354 Black Cinema and Media

    This course offers a critical examination of the historical and contemporary contributions of Black media and cinema to the film industry and to society at large. It will explore the narratives, aesthetics, and cultural expressions that have emerged from Black communities, examining key themes and issues in Black media, including identity, representation, political activism, and community building. Throughout the course, students will engage with a range of critical approaches and methodologies, including formal analysis, historical contextualization, and cultural critique, to gain a deeper understanding of the ethical and political implications of Black media production, consumption, and distribution.