Bettina Ng'weno is an associate professor in African American and African Studies at the University of California, Davis, and the chair of the Designated Emphasis. Previously, she was a co-director of the Mellon Research Initiative Reimagining Indian Ocean Worlds at the University of California Davis.

Originally from Nairobi, Kenya, Bettina Ng'weno is trained as an anthropologist, works on issues of space, property, social justice, citizenship, cities, states, race and ethnicity within Latin America, Africa and the Indian Ocean region. Ng'weno received a PhD in Anthropology from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree also in Anthropology from Stanford University. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science and Management from the University of California, Davis.