His PhD in Communication is from the University of California-San Diego, and he completed a 2nd M.A. in Spanish literature at the University of West Indies-Mona (2007). Stephens has taught film, literature, and media/cultural studies at the University of South Florida (2010-12) the University of West Indies (2004-08), and the University of California. He is the author of On Racial Frontiers: The New Culture of Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison, and Bob Marley (Cambridge UP, 1999).