Patricia Ann Banks

Patricia Ann Banks is a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Mount Holyoke College. She holds a Ph.D. and A.M. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Spelman College. Her research focuses on cultural consumption, identity, and markets, particularly within the African Diaspora. She has held prestigious fellowships including the Stanford University CASBS Fellowship (2018-2019), Harvard’s Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellowship, and Non-Resident Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research.

Her work explores topics such as art collecting, museum philanthropy, and dress code discrimination. Banks is the author of four books, including the award-winning Black Culture Inc: How Ethnic Community Support Pays for Corporate America (2023), which won the ASA Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award. She also serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Poetics, and on editorial and advisory boards for institutions like the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum.

Banks’ research has been featured in major media outlets and she has received teaching accolades. Her African American Museums Database (AAMD) is a key resource for researchers nationwide.