Her work is most broadly concerned with the analysis of aesthetic forms and judgments specific to capitalism. She is Professor of English at University of Chicago (since 2017). Previously, she was Professor of English at University of Stanford (2000-2007, 2011-2017). Ngai earned her B.A. and M.F.A. from Brown University, Providence, in 1993 and 1995, her PhD. from Harvard in 2000, and an honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in Humanities from the University of Copenhagen in 2015.

Her first book, Ugly Feelings (2005, Harvard UP) investigates the aesthetics and politics of non-prestigious, non-cathartic negative emotions—envy and irritation as opposed to anger and fear. Her second book, Our Aesthetic Categories: Zany, Cute, Interesting (2012, Harvard UP), argues for the contemporary centrality of three everyday, vernacular aesthetic categories, treating them with the same philosophical seriousness as others have treated the beautiful and sublime.

Madeleine received her Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University before pursuing a Masters in « Media, Arts and Creation » at HEC Paris and a Master 2 in gender and performance studies at the EHESS. There, she led an arts-based research project with the nonprofit Women Safe, where she continues to facilitate a creative writing and theatre workshop. Madeleine is currently completing her PhD at the EHESS ; her dissertation research examines contemporary methods for devising performance in France.

Her most recent writing can be found in CURA., OnCurating, SwitchOn Paper, and EarthKeepingEarthShaking. She has curated two group shows : Spine at GIANNI MANHATTAN as part of Curated by (Vienna, 2024), as well as Scabs at the Mécènes du Sud (Montpellier, 2023). Madeleine pursues her training in contemporary dance.