Crystal M. Fleming

Graduate Student in Sociology

Biographical Note

Crystal Fleming is a Ford Foundation fellow and a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology. A native of Chattanooga, TN, Fleming graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with degrees in French and Sociology and attended the Universite de Provence in France. A specialist of cultural sociology, her research focuses on ethnoracial identity and antiracism. Her masters thesis examined the sociopolitical discourse of African American poets in predominately black and predominately white spoken word venues. With Michèle Lamont, Fleming is the co-author of "Everyday Anti-Racism: Competence and Religion in the Cultural Repertoire of the African-American Elite and Working Class" which appeared in the Du Bois Review in 2005. A recent paper (forthcoming) analyzes how 'Black Brahmins' in Boston during the 1920's worked to organize the arts, and in so doing, sought to redefine the scope of legitimate culture. For her dissertation, she will comparative analyze the commemoration of slavery in France and the U.S. From 2006 until 2007, Fleming was President of the Graduate Student Council of the Graduate School of Arts Sciences, representing over 50 Ph.D. programs. She is the founder and coordinator of the first University-Wide Day of Service at Harvard University and a 2007 recipient of a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching.

**Beginning in Fall 2007, Fleming will be a traveling scholar at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris, France**

12/18/2007

Research Interests

Slavery, Comparative Ethnicity, Collective Identity, Social Memory, Cultural Trauma, Symbolic Boundaries, Anti-Racism, Stigma

Previous Degrees

A.M., Harvard University, 2007; B.A., Wellesley College, 2004

Qualifying Paper Title

Poetry, Politics and the Public Sphere: How Race Structures Discourse in Spoken Word Venues

Miscellaneous Additional Information

Optional Sections on General Exams

Race/Ethnicity and Culture

Contact

617-496-3443 (Phone)
617-496-5794 (FAX)

511 William James Hall
33 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, MA 02138