Dr. Oneka Labennett

Biography

Oneka LaBennett is the Director of USC’s Black Studies Center and a Professor in American Studies and Ethnicity and Gender Studies. She is the author of "Global Guyana: Shaping Race, Gender, Environment Caribbean" published by NYU Press in 2024, which has been shortlisted for the 2025 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. Oneka also wrote "She’s Mad Real: Popular Culture West Indian Girls Brooklyn," published in 2011 by NYU Press, and served as co-editor for "Racial Formation Twenty-First Century" published by UC Press in 2012. Her work primarily focuses on youth culture, Black girlhood, race, gender, popular culture, urban anthropology, migration, the African Diaspora, and the global Caribbean.

Research Interests