Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley
Biography
Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley is a scholar, literary critic, and professor whose research focuses on queer and feminist Caribbean and African American performance and literature. She is Professor and Chair of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her scholarship has appeared in journals including GLQ, Feminist Studies, Yale French Studies, and Small Axe, and she has contributed writing to publications including TIME, Ebony, The Advocate, and Huffington Post.
Tinsley's first book, Thiefing Sugar: Eroticism Between Women in Caribbean Literature (2010), examines eroticism and relationships between women in Caribbean women's literature. Ezili's Mirrors: Imagining Black Queer Genders (2018) examines queer Caribbean and African American writers, performers, and cultural traditions through the figure of Ezili and develops a Black queer feminist framework. The book received the 2019 Barbara Christian Prize in Caribbean Studies.
Her later work includes Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism (2018), which examines Beyoncé's Lemonade through questions of Black feminism, sexuality, gender, marriage, motherhood, and popular culture. The Color Pynk: Black Femme Art for Survival (2022) examines Black queer, cisgender, and transfemme cultural production and develops Black femme art as a practice of survival and resistance. Her forthcoming book, Bringing Wreck: Megan Thee Stallion, Monica Roberts, and Other Houston Hurricanes, is scheduled for publication on October 13, 2026.
BQW Impact
Tinsley's scholarship places Black queer genders, sexuality, femme identity, and Black feminist cultural production at the center of its inquiry. Her work connects Black feminist theory with Caribbean and African American literature, performance, spirituality, music, and popular culture. Through books including Ezili's Mirrors and The Color Pynk, she examines Black queer and femme creativity as a site of cultural expression, resistance, and freedom.
Her work is particularly relevant to BQW because it documents and theorizes Black queer and femme cultural production across literature, music, performance, visual culture, and popular media. The Color Pynk specifically examines Black queer, cisgender, and transfemme creativity and positions Black femme cultural production as a challenge to conventional understandings of race, gender, sexuality, and freedom.
Notable Works
Thiefing Sugar: Eroticism Between Women in Caribbean Literature (2010)
Scholarly study examining eroticism, sexuality, and relationships between women in Caribbean women's literature.
Ezili's Mirrors: Imagining Black Queer Genders (2018)
Book developing a Black queer feminist framework through Caribbean and African American literature, performance, and Vodou traditions.
Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism (2018)
Cultural analysis of Beyoncé's Lemonade examining Black feminism, sexuality, gender, marriage, motherhood, and popular culture.
The Color Pynk: Black Femme Art for Survival (2022)
Study of Black queer, cisgender, and transfemme cultural production and Black femme poetics of survival.
Bringing Wreck: Megan Thee Stallion, Monica Roberts, and Other Houston Hurricanes (2026)
Forthcoming book examining Megan Thee Stallion, Monica Roberts, Black women and femmes, Houston, Black music, and resistance to racial, anti-trans, and queer violence.
Learn More
UC Santa Barbara, Omise'eke Tinsley
Current institutional profile documenting her position, research, publications, and academic work.
UC Santa Barbara, Department of Black Studies
Current department directory confirming her role as Department Chair and Professor.
University of Texas Press, Beyoncé in Formation
Publisher page for her book examining Beyoncé, Black feminism, sexuality, gender, and popular culture.
University of Texas Press, The Color Pynk
Publisher page documenting the book's focus on Black femme cultural production and its recognitions.
University of Texas Press, Bringing Wreck
Publisher page for the forthcoming October 13, 2026 book.