Papers by Crystal Fleming
Published in Gates, Henry L, and Evelyn B. Higginbotham (Eds.) The African American National Biog... more Published in Gates, Henry L, and Evelyn B. Higginbotham (Eds.) The African American National Biography (Volume 5). New York: Oxford University Press.
This exploratory study makes a contribution to the literature on antiracism by unpacking the cult... more This exploratory study makes a contribution to the literature on antiracism by unpacking the cultural categories through which everyday antiracism is experienced and practiced by extraordinarily successful African Americans. Using a phenomenological approach, we focus on processes of classification to analyze the criteria that members of the African American elite mobilize to compare racial groups and establish their equality. We first summarize results from earlier work on the antiracist strategies of White and African American workers. Second, drawing upon in-depth interviews with members of the Black elite, we show that demonstrating intelligence and competence, and gaining knowledge, are particularly valued strategies of equalization, while religion has a subordinate role within their antiracist repertoire. Thus, gaining cultural membership is often equated with educational and occupational attainment. Antiracist strategies that value college education and achievement by the standards of American individualism may exclude many poor and working-class African Americans from cultural membership. In this way, strategies of equalization based on educational and professional competence may prove dysfunctional for racial solidarity. In " Black Men and Public Space, " journalist Brent Staples ~1992! wrote of his habit of whistling Vivaldi's Four Seasons when walking outside at night to signal that he is an educated, middle-class African American and not, as some might fear, out to snatch purses+ For his part, in the first few pages of The Souls of Black Folk, W+ E+ B+ Du Bois described how, throughout his life, he dreamed of demonstrating his equality with Whites " by reading law, by healing the sick, by telling the wonderful tales that swam in our head " ~1903 @1969#, p+ 44!+ Although living in very different worlds, Du Bois Review, 2:1 (2005) 29–43.
Rates of both traumatic event exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; 22%-54%) are disp... more Rates of both traumatic event exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; 22%-54%) are disproportionately elevated among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA). Trauma and related psychopathology significantly affect quality of life and disease management in this patient population. The current study examined associations between internalized HIV stigma, mindfulness skills, and the severity of PTSD symptoms in trauma-exposed PLHA. Participants included 137 PLHA (14.6% female; Mage = 48.94, SD = 8.89) who reported experiencing on average, five (SD = 2.67) traumatic events; 34% met diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Results indicate that after controlling for sex, age, education, and number of traumatic events, internalized HIV stigma was positively related to overall PTSD symptom severity (β = .16, p < .05) and severity of re-experiencing (β = .19, p < .05) and hyper-arousal (β = .16, p = .05), but not avoidance, PTSD symptom clusters. Among the mindfulness facets measured, acting with awareness was uniquely negatively related to the overall severity of PTSD symptoms (β =-.25, p < .01) and the
I suggest that despite its conceptual and empirical ambitions, The Cultural Matrix is a book pain... more I suggest that despite its conceptual and empirical ambitions, The Cultural Matrix is a book painfully out of touch with the times. Far from avoiding the racist assumptions of sociologists who portrayed African-Americans as socially and culturally deficient for most of the twentieth century, The Cultural Matrix is vulnerable to some of the same anti-black impulses that have animated social analysis since the establishment of the discipline. Specifically, I argue that the Patterson and Fosse engage in what I call ‘kindler, gentler pathologizing’ – a
way of depicting African-Americans as responsible for their own uplift, while still paying lip service to the structural barriers imposed by racism. Further, I explain the role of racial asymmetries in producing a portrait of black youth that minimizes racism. Finally, I discuss the authors’ arguments in light of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Poetics, 2007
This study examines the role of an African-American organization, the League of Women for Communi... more This study examines the role of an African-American organization, the League of Women for Community Service (incorporated in 1919), in shaping cultural production and developing arenas for black musical and dramatic performance in Boston. We build upon DiMaggio's work on cultural entrepreneurship by demonstrating that the members of the LWCS were cultural capitalists who worked to build an integrated audience for black artistry largely within the framework of Eurocentric norms. Drawing upon data from the League's archival records (including meeting minutes and correspondences), historical documents (including local news coverage) and biographies, we reveal the manner in which Boston's black Brahmins began to incorporate (but also to diverge from) the organizational practices and aesthetic sensibility of Boston's Anglo-American cultural leaders. Concurrently pursuing the goals of cultural stewardship and anti-racism, members of the LWCS valorized both Eurocentric aesthetics and black cultural forms within a context of rigid racial boundaries and during an era of widespread discrimination. Their efforts to promote cultural uplift helped the LWCS bridge racial boundaries, with moderate success, although they may have also reified intra-racial class divisions. By revealing the processes by which the LWCS introduced black art into the mainstream, we contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the range of possible strategies African-American cultural organizers used to counter racism. #
Book Reviews by Crystal Fleming
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Papers by Crystal Fleming
way of depicting African-Americans as responsible for their own uplift, while still paying lip service to the structural barriers imposed by racism. Further, I explain the role of racial asymmetries in producing a portrait of black youth that minimizes racism. Finally, I discuss the authors’ arguments in light of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Book Reviews by Crystal Fleming
way of depicting African-Americans as responsible for their own uplift, while still paying lip service to the structural barriers imposed by racism. Further, I explain the role of racial asymmetries in producing a portrait of black youth that minimizes racism. Finally, I discuss the authors’ arguments in light of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.