Lanita Jacobs

Lanita Jacobs is a Professor at the University of Southern California, holding joint appointments in the Department of American Studies & Ethnicity and the Department of Anthropology. Her research focuses on language as a mediator of African American culture and identity, utilizing multi-sited ethnographies across hair care communities, hospitals, and standup comedy venues. She earned her Ph.D. in Linguistic Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles (1999), preceded by an M.A. (1996) and B.A. (1993).

Her scholarly work spans linguistic anthropology, discourse analysis, and cultural studies, examining topics such as race and humor, language and gender, anthropology of the body, and race, health, and disability. She has published extensively on these themes, including two monographs: From the Kitchen to the Parlor (2006) and Truth and Racial Authenticity in African American Standup Comedy (2022). Her research has been funded by prestigious grants such as the NIH R01 Continuation Grant and the Wenner-Gren Foundation Pre-Doctoral Grant.

Jacobs has received numerous honors, including the Fight On Faculty Award (2010), USC Mellon Award for Excellence in Faculty Mentoring Undergraduates (2007-2008), and induction into the USC Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi (2018-2019). She mentors students across disciplines, including Mellon-Mays Scholars, McNair Scholars, and SOAR Scholars, emphasizing interdisciplinary research and cultural representation.

• Key research areas: Language and Identity in Diasporas, Race and Performance, Ethnographic Methodology
• Recent article trends: 2022 book on standup comedy, 2015-2006 work on disability narratives, cosmetology ethnography, and post-9/11 discourse