Oliver Benoit, PhD, MFA

Oliver Benoit is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Sociology Programme in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at St. George’s University, Grenada. His areas of specialisation include Comparative and Historical Sociology, Political Sociology, and the Sociology of Art and Culture. He has taught widely across the discipline, offering courses such as Classical and Contemporary Social Theory, Caribbean Identity, and Critical Reasoning. His research examines nationalism and the emergence of national identity in the Anglophone Caribbean.

Benoit’s publications include Cultural Revitalization and a Seat of Common Heritage in Grenada in Christopher C. Fennell (ed.), Restorative Justice in Heritage Studies & Archaeology (Routledge, 2025); The Education System of Grenada: The Place of National Identity in Educational Development in The Education Systems of the Americas(Springer, 2021); Ressentiment and the Gairy Social Revolution (Small Axe, 2017); “T.A. Marryshow and the Problem of National Identity Formation in Grenada” in Island and Britishness: A Global Perspective (2012); and “The Question of National Identity and the Institutionalisation of the Visual Arts in Grenada” (Nations and Nationalism, 2011).

Benoit holds a PhD in Sociology from Brandeis University, USA, and an MFA in Studio Art from Plymouth University, UK. In addition to his academic work, Benoit is an established abstract artist whose practice integrates sociological research with creative expression. His paintings provoke reflection on social realities and watershed historical moments. Rising from sculptural, labyrinthine forms, his works evoke moods that are both sensitive and formidable, offering mirrors to collective and individual psychologies. The emotional, intellectual, and aesthetic force of his art reflects his commitment to bridging scholarship and creativity in ways that challenge, unsettle, and inspire.