Crystal Fleming
Professor |
Ph.D. 2011, Harvard |
Areas of Interest
Critical Race Theory, Global White Supremacy, Temporality, Collective Memory, Social Movements, Mindfulness and Spirituality
Bio
My research examines how people of African descent conceptualize and respond to racial oppression in multiple national settings. My first book Resurrecting Slavery: Racial Legacies and White Supremacy in France (Temple University Press, 2017) uses critical race theory to significantly advance scholarship on racism in France and Europe. The book marshals ethnographic data, archival research and in-depth interviews with French activists and descendants of slaves to analyze how social actors construct racial temporality through collective memories and commemoration of enslavement and abolition.
My second book, How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy and the Racial Divide (Beacon Press 2018), blends public sociology with memoir, critical race theory and satire to debunk common misconceptions about racism.
My current projects extend my work on racism and anti-racism by further exploring the dynamics of global white supremacy and anti-blackness in France and the United States. A new line of research bridges my interests in spirituality, racial temporality and intersectionality by examining the experiences of non-white minorities with mindfulness and contemplative practice
Recent Publications
Fleming, Crystal M., Proulx, J. and Womack, V. (Eds.) 2022. Beyond White Mindfulness: Critical Perspectives on Racism, Wellbeing and Liberation. New York: Routledge.
Fleming, Crystal M. Under contract. Words to Remake the World: A People’s Dictionary for Social Change. Boston: Beacon Press.
Fleming, Crystal M. 2021. Rise Up! How You Can Join the Fight Against White Supremacy. New York: Henry Holt for Young Readers.
Winner: Booklist Editor’s Choice 2021, Kirkus Reviews Best of YA 2021, SchoolLibrary
Journal Best Book of 2021
Starred Reviews: Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, Publisher’s Weekly, School LibraryJournal
Fleming, C. M., & Girma, H. (2021). “Positive discrimination doesn’t mean anything”: Understanding Black French ambivalence toward affirmative action. Social Problems, 68(2), 340–357
Fleming, Crystal M. In Press. “On the Illegibility of French Anti-blackness: Notes from an African American Critic” in Moon-Kie Jung and João H. Costa Vargas (Eds.) The Wretched of the World: The Past and Present of Antiblackness, Durham: Duke University Press.