Poynor's research in the Yoruba kingdom of Owo has resulted in numerous publications in scholarly journals. Because of his interest in exhibiting and interpreting the arts of Africa, Poynor has involved himself in curating numerous exhibitions of African art at the University of Florida and other institutions, among them The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian, and the Birmingham Museum of Art. The exhibition "African Art at the Harn Museum: Spirit Eyes, Human Hands," for which Poynor was guest curator and author of the accompanying book by the same name, traveled to numerous venues in the southeast.

Poynor's commitment to teaching led to writing, with Monica Blackmun Visona and Herbert M. Cole, the textbook "A History of Art in Africa" published by Harry N. Abrams (2001). A History of Art in Africa was one of sixty books named to Art Journal's coveted Best Books of 2000 List and won Honorable Mention in the Arnold Rubin Book Competition. It has been adopted as a text by over 160 universities in the united States. A revised editon was published for 2008 by Pearson.

Poynor has served on the Board of Directors for ACASA, a scholarly association comprised of individuals from four continents representing a wide variety of fields - among these Art History, Anthropology, Archaeology, Museum Studies, Fine Arts, Ethnomusicology and Sociology - with a longstanding interest in the arts of Africa and the Diaspora. ACASA is affiliated with both the African Studies Association and College Art Association.    Poynor was president of ACASA from 2002 to 2004.

Poynor grew up in Louisiana, earned a B.A. degree from Southeastern Louisiana University and a B.F.A. degree from the San Francisco Art Institute in studio art before turning to the study of art in the context of culture. Having earned the M.A. and the Ph.D. degrees in art history at Indiana University, he has researched the arts of Africa for the past 40 years. He carried out his initial fieldwork in Nigeria as a Fulbright Hays Fellow and did subsequent work in Sierra Leone. His work presently focuses on the art of the African Diaspora, especially as it relates to manifestations of Yoruba culture in the American south. His current book project with Prof. Amanda Carlson of University of Hartford is tentatively titled Africa in Florida and deals with almost 500 years of African presence in the state.