Nikki Khanna - Interim Director Alana US Ethnic Studies and Assistant Professor - Department of Sociology

• Ph.D. Emory University, 2007
• Curriculum Vitae

Area of expertise

race/ethnicity, social psychology, identity/multiracial identity

Contact Information

Email: Nikki.Khanna@uvm.edu
Phone: (802) 656-2162

Office Hours: by appointment

I received my PhD in Sociology from Emory University in 2007, and joined the Sociology Department at UVM the same year.

My primary areas of specialization are race/ethnic relations and social psychology, and much of my research looks at biracial and multiracial Americans and racial identity.  I study how people racially identify and how identity is shaped and negotiated through social interactions with others.  In my most recent book, Biracial in America:  Forming and Performing Racial Identity (Lexington Books 2011), I look at black-white biracial Americans and several social psychological processes underlying their identity development.  I have also published in outlets such as Social Psychology Quarterly, Ethnic and Racial Studies, The Sociological Quarterly, Sociological Spectrum, and Teaching Sociology.  More recently, my work has expanded to look at transracial and transnational adoption and how people make decisions regarding who and where they adopt.  My research has been featured in the Burlington Free Press, TIME, Vermont Public Radio, and NPR.

I have a passion for teaching race relations courses and if you take a course with me, it will likely have something to do with race!  I currently teach Soc 19 (Race Relations in the US), Soc 119 (Race and Ethnicity), Soc 219 (Race Relations), and Soc 195/196 (Multiracial People and Identity).