Crystal Harris
Assistant Professor of English & Co-Director of Africana Studies
Irby 407
(501) 852-2064
Dr. Crystal Harris (Ph.D., University of Memphis) is Assistant Professor of English at
UCA, having joined the department in the summer of 2021. Harris’s research
interests span many periods and movements in multicultural and African American
literature and culture. More specifically, her research and teaching engage
concepts of community, race, gender, and social justice. Harris’s latest article,
“Teaching While ‘Biting My Lip’: Overcoming Patriarchy in the Classroom,” was
published as a chapter in The Affects of Pedagogy during the Spring of 2023. The
chapter explores embodied affects of pedagogy within the university classroom as
well as Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun. Her current, long-term project
seeks to engage the local community on topics of survival, secrecy, and Black
womanhood.