NicOLE DEZREA jenkins, Ph.D.
She/ Her/ HERS
Scholar | Global Researcher
Advocate for Black Women's Stories.
Advocate for Black Women's Stories.
Biography
Dr. Nicole Dezrea Jenkins is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Howard University and a current Visiting Professor in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. A qualitative researcher, urban ethnographer, and U.S. Air Force veteran, Dr. Jenkins centers her work in intersectional and critical feminist frameworks, with a focus on Black women’s lives and experiences across the African Diaspora. Nicole holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and an A.A. in Criminal Justice earned after six years of active duty as Military Police. At Howard, she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Ethnography, Social Theory, Sociology of Poverty, and The Black Community.
Her current book project, EnTANGLEment: Resistance and Assistance Wrestling Beauty, Blackness, and Family in the U.S., is under contract with Princeton University Press and supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant. Based on two years of immersive fieldwork in a Las Vegas African hair braiding salon, the book explores the entanglement of beauty work, racialized labor, and Black womanhood in the U.S., uncovering how perceptions of nationhood and family complicate identity-making for Black women. In parallel, Dr. Jenkins leads Global Crowns, a growing international research initiative that examines natural hair discrimination and Black women’s emotional experiences with natural hair across the globe. This innovative project incorporates artificial intelligence into qualitative analysis and multilingual translation, and was featured in Nature magazine (May 2024) for its methodological contributions. The project has received institutional support from Harvard University and is currently expanding across multiple global research sites. Her scholarship appears in leading academic and interdisciplinary venues including Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Issues in Race & Society, Demeter Press, Routledge, Taylor & Francis, IGI Global, and Rutgers University Press.
In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Jenkins is active in public scholarship and mentorship. She serves as Co-Chair for the Howard University Department of Sociology’s College of Arts and Sciences initiative to increase the enrollment of Black male students, and regularly mentors undergraduates and graduate students across institutions. She has been featured in national media, student-produced documentaries, and university publications, and is widely recognized for her ability to bridge academic rigor with community engagement and public impact.
Her current book project, EnTANGLEment: Resistance and Assistance Wrestling Beauty, Blackness, and Family in the U.S., is under contract with Princeton University Press and supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant. Based on two years of immersive fieldwork in a Las Vegas African hair braiding salon, the book explores the entanglement of beauty work, racialized labor, and Black womanhood in the U.S., uncovering how perceptions of nationhood and family complicate identity-making for Black women. In parallel, Dr. Jenkins leads Global Crowns, a growing international research initiative that examines natural hair discrimination and Black women’s emotional experiences with natural hair across the globe. This innovative project incorporates artificial intelligence into qualitative analysis and multilingual translation, and was featured in Nature magazine (May 2024) for its methodological contributions. The project has received institutional support from Harvard University and is currently expanding across multiple global research sites. Her scholarship appears in leading academic and interdisciplinary venues including Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Issues in Race & Society, Demeter Press, Routledge, Taylor & Francis, IGI Global, and Rutgers University Press.
In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Jenkins is active in public scholarship and mentorship. She serves as Co-Chair for the Howard University Department of Sociology’s College of Arts and Sciences initiative to increase the enrollment of Black male students, and regularly mentors undergraduates and graduate students across institutions. She has been featured in national media, student-produced documentaries, and university publications, and is widely recognized for her ability to bridge academic rigor with community engagement and public impact.
Harvard University
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Visiting Professor of Sociology
2024-2025
