Biography

A joint PhD in Anthropology and Africana Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and former inaugural postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Experimental Ethnography at Penn, Dr. Osei Alleyne also holds an MA in Communications from Temple University. A still active internationally touring professional Canadian Hip hop artist and Spoken word poet of Trinidad & Tobago extract, Osei Alleyne's field research employs a multi-modal ethnography of Reggae, Rastafari, Afrobeat and Hip-hop performance communities and related social justice movements across the African diaspora, with an emphasis on the black Atlantic nexus between Jamaica and Ghana. As Assistant professor of Media Studies and Production at Klein, Dr. Osei Alleyne also writes about African diasporic art and philosophy movements such as afrofuturism, afropolitanism and afropessimism and has published critical commentaries on notable pop culture tomes in the Black Mirror and Black Panther series. Dr. Alleyne's classroom practice is inspired by Freirean and abolitionist pedagogies. 

BOOK MANUSCRIPT IN PROGRESS

Alleyne O. (final review). “Dancehall: Diaspora: Rastafari & Rudeness in the African Postcolony.’ New York University Press.

ARTICLE MANUSCRIPTS UNDER REVIEW

Alleyne O. (in progress). “Akon, Akoin, Akon City: Afrofuturist African Development[alism] & the Remaking of the Real World Wakanda.”  

Alleyne, O. (in progress). “Black Woodstock to the Moonshot: Afrofuturist Refusal & Redirection in Questlove’s ‘Summer of Soul.” 

JOURNAL ARTICLE PUBLICATIONS

Alleyne O. (2022) “Turban Crown: Royalty, Piety and Boboshanti Rastafari in Ghanaian Reggae-Dancehall.” Transforming Anthropology. American Anthropological Association. 

Alleyne O. (2022) “Dancehall City: Zongo Identity and Jamaican Rude Performance in Ghanaian Popular Culture.” African Studies Review. Cambridge Publishing.

Alleyne, O. (2016). “Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra: Five Musical Years in Ghana by Steven Feld.” American Anthropologist, 118: 391–392. doi:10.1111/aman.12593

Alleyne O. (2021). “This is No Child’s Play: Yrjo Hirn, Savage Slots and other Anthropological Hernias.” International Journal of Play. Taylor & Francis.

BOOK CHAPTERS

Alleyne O. (2021). “Afrofuturism in Black Panther: Counter-narratives as Portals to Alternate Futures” Media Environments: Using Movies & Texts to Critique Media ed. Vacker, Barry. Cognella Academic Publishing.

Alleyne. O. (2018). “Unbearable Burden: Discipline, Punish & Moral Dystopia in Black Mirror’s ‘White Bear.” in Black Mirror & Media Theory eds. Angela Cirucci & Barry Vacker. Lexington Books.

Alleyne. O. (2012). Reasoning on Rastafari: Caribbean Identity, African Authenticity & Mass Popularity in Re-constructing place and space: media, culture, discourse and the constitution of Caribbean diasporas. eds. Gentles-Peart, Kamille, and Maurice L. Hall. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.

FORTHCOMING:

Alleyne O. & Dawkins. N (2026). Phonetic Tidalectics: Jamaican Patois and Gender in Ghanaian Reggae Dancehall. In (Eds. Glenford Howe, Shelene Gomes & Tara Innis) Tides of Exchange: The West Indian/Caribbean Footprint in Africa (A Reader). Ian Randle Publishers, Jamaica.

Alleyne, O. (2026). [Review of the book Vibes Up: Reggae and Afro-­Caribbean Migration from Costa Rica to Brooklyn by Sabia McCoy-Torres]. Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures