Janell Hobson

Janell Hobson is a Professor and Undergraduate Director at the Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies (University at Albany, State University of New York). She holds the Collins Fellowship and serves as Faculty Grand Marshal (2025-2026), with a focus on multiracial and transnational feminist issues related to African Diaspora women's histories and representations.

• Education: PhD in Women's Studies (Emory University, 2001), MA in Education (Teachers College, Columbia University, 1995), AB in Anthropology (University of Georgia, 1994)

Her research examines race, class, and gender intersections in media and popular culture, with a transnational feminist lens. Key areas include Black women's embodiment and resistance to objectification.

Her recent publications include the When God Lost Her Tongue (2021), the forthcoming Venus in the Dark (3rd ed.) (2025), and The Routledge Companion to Black Women's Cultural Histories (2021), which analyze historical consciousness, beauty politics, and global gender dynamics.

• Scientific Awards: Faculty Grand Marshal (2025-2026), Collins Fellow (2022), Community Fellow (2021-2022)

Hobson teaches graduate courses on Black Diasporas, Feminisms, and Sexual Politics, and undergraduate courses on Global Perspectives on Women and Women and the Media. She actively engages in public scholarship through Ms. Magazine and guest-edited special volumes on Harriet Tubman and slavery in popular culture.