Ebony Utley

Ebony A. Utley, PhD is an expert in popular culture, race, and romantic relationships. Her critically acclaimed book Rap and Religion: Understanding the Gangsta’s God addresses all of the above by closely examining the juxtaposition—and seeming hypocrisy—of references to God within rap music. Utley asserts that religion has always been part of the urban environments that birthed rap music and she shows exactly how a God-sanctioned “gangsta” identity can be empowering.

In addition to identifying the many similarities between rap and religion, Utley also uncovers love’s presence in some of hip-hop’s most unlikely places. Her co-edited volume Hip Hop’s Languages of Love was the first scholarly examination of hip-hop and love, celebrated for its historical, conceptual, geographical, and methodological diversity. In her most recent research, Utley asks probing questions about women’s experiences with infidelity and investigates African American beliefs about marriage.

Utley shares her exciting work with interested audiences at universities across the country. The Utley Experience is a multimedia interactive presentation that challenges audiences to examine old texts in new ways. Utley’s critical analyses of popular culture’s complex combinations of power and pleasure—which have earned her the title of “the woman with ideas”—are educational as well as entertaining and rooted in her increasingly comprehensive research agenda.

Utley’s academic writing has appeared in Black Women, Gender, and Families; Critical Studies in Media Communication; Marriage and Family Review; Rhetoric and Public Affairs; The Journal of Men’s Studies; and The Western Journal of Black Studies. She has also written for Ms. Magazine, Religion Dispatches, and Truthdig. Her blogs have been cited by national and international news outlets including AlterNet, Beliefnet, Essence, Jezebel, and Racialicious.

Professor Utley earned a certificate in journalism and a BA in speech communication (with highest distinction) from Indiana University Bloomington where she was a Herman B. Wells and a Ronald McNair scholar. She earned her MA and PhD in communication studies at Northwestern University as a Jacob K. Javits fellow. She is currently an associate professor of communication studies at California State University, Long Beach.